Rams close action in The Colorado Cup with match at Northern Colorado

The Colorado Cup
Colorado State Rams (0-1-1) at Northern Colorado Bears (2-0-0)
Thursday, Aug. 24 | 7 p.m. MT
Jackson Stadium | Greeley, Colo.
Coverage: Live Stats

Colorado State Women's Soccer: Match Notes | Twitter

FORT COLLINS, Colo. – The Colorado State women's soccer team will play its third game of The Colorado Cup this Thursday, when the Rams travel to face Northern Colorado.

Thursday's contest between the Rams (0-1-1) and the Bears (2-0-0) is set for 7 p.m. MT from Jackson Stadium in Greeley, Colo. Admission and parking is free for matches at Jackson Stadium.

Colorado State's match at Northern Colorado on Thursday completes its season-opening slate of matches in The Colorado Cup. CSU battled 25th-ranked Colorado to a scoreless draw in the Rams' first-ever match at the new CSU Soccer Field before taking Summit League favorite Denver to the 99th minute extra time in a 1-0 Pioneer victory on Sunday. Thursday's contest will be the first true road match for the Rams this season.

CSU is Northern Colorado's first opponent at home this season after the Bears played their first two matches on the road. The Bears opened the season with a 3-1 win at Colorado College and bookended their weekend with a 2-0 neutral-site win over Air Force. The Rams are 2-1-1 all-time against Northern Colorado.

Live stats will be made available for Thursday's contest via Northern Colorado. A link to live stats can be found above, on the women's soccer schedule page on CSURams.com or on the team's official game day central page, which will go live on Thursday.

Quickly…
- Colorado State returns 18 letterwinners from its 2016 roster. That ties for the second-most of any Mountain West program. Of those returning letterwinners, 16 have starting experience and seven were regular starters in 2016.
- CSU's top scorers entering 2017 are junior Kaija Ornes (team-high four goals and eight points in 2016), junior Hannah Gerdin (four points in 2016; CSU career-record 16 points for her career) and sophomore Caeley Lordemann (10 points at Creighton in 2016).
- Overall, the Rams' 2017 roster features eight athletes that scored a goal last season: Gerdin, Alex Lanning, Lordemann, Ornes, Beth Plentl, Madisann Relph, Maddi Rodriguez and Janelle Stone.
- The Rams return all three players that accounted for a game-winning goal in 2016: Ornes (at Denver on Aug. 19), Lanning (vs. SIUE on Aug. 28) and Gerdin (vs. Nevada on Sept. 30).
- Among CSU's returning athletes is its most experienced goalkeeper, Paige Brandt. The senior ranked fifth in the Mountain West last season with 44 saves in conference play.
- Senior midfielder Maddi Rodriguez played 1,589 minutes last season, the most of any Ram returning for 2017. Rodriguez and Ornes appeared in all 19 matches last season, starting 19 and 18, respectively.

Record Watch
- With her double-overtime goal against Nevada on Sept. 30, 2016, junior forward Hannah Gerdin moved into a tie with Gianna Bertana for CSU's career goals scored record (6). Bertana competed for the Rams from 2014-15.
- Junior forward Kaija Ornes is also nearing the top of CSU's career goals scored list, as her four goals rank fourth in program history.

Scouting the Northern Colorado Bears
- One season ago, Northern Colorado went 10-8-2 with a 2-1 loss in the opening round of the Big Sky Tournament.. The Bears return 11 letterwinners and five starters from that team.
- Northern Colorado was picked to finish fifth in this year's Big Sky Preseason Coaches' Poll, receiving one first-place vote and 68 total points. The Bears are off to a 2-0-0 start this season with wins over Colorado College (3-1) and Air Force (2-0).
- Among the returners for Northern Colorado are First-Team All-Big Sky selection Mariel Gutierrez, as well as second-team performers Brooke Braden and Madeline Burdick. Gutierrez, who has a goal this season, led the Bears with 23 points and 10 goals last year. Braden tallied four goals and 11 points last season, while Burdick went 8-7-1 with a 1.23 goals against average in 2016.

Colorado State All-Time Against Northern Colorado (2-1-1)
Nov. 1, 2013 – T, 2-2 – Greeley, Colo.
Aug. 28, 2014 – W, 1-0 – Fort Collins, Colo.
Sept. 13, 2015 – W, 3-1 – Greeley, Colo.
Aug. 26, 2016 – L, 0-1 – Fort Collins, Colo.

Up Next
- The Colorado State women's soccer team returns home for a pair of matches at the new CSU Soccer Field next weekend.
- CSU welcomes New Mexico State at 1 p.m. MT on Friday, Sept. 1, and hosts New Hampshire on Sunday, Sept. 3. Admission to each match, as well as all 2017 home matches, is free.

New Facility Marks New Era of Rams Soccer
- The Colorado State women's soccer program, which enters its fifth season in 2017, has called The Lagoon home for all of its matches in Fort Collins over the past three seasons. However, the Rams have a new permanent home beginning with the 2017 season.
- Beginning with its home opener against in-state and Colorado Cup rival Colorado on Aug. 18, CSU will now compete in a location that replaces the previous football practice facility. The Rams' new facility is located directly adjacent to Moby Arena and Ram Field at the intersection of Shields and Elizabeth Streets.
- Among the improvements made to the facility in preparation for the upcoming season was a topdressing process. Approximately 2,000 pounds of grass seed were transported in and spread evenly across what will become the pitch. The goals of that process include improving the thickness and leveling of the natural grass surface over time, as well as to allow for better drainage in adverse weather conditions.

Game Day Information for the New CSU Soccer Field
- Fans looking to attend a home CSU soccer match may park in the Moby Arena parking lot, conveniently located immediately next to the Rams' new facility. Entrances to the Moby Arena parking lot are located on Shields Street and on Plum Street.
- The new CSU Soccer Field is located adjacent to Moby Arena and CSU softball's Ram Field.
- Fans attending a CSU home match can expect seating and set-up similar to game days at The Lagoon, and are encouraged to bring their own lawn chairs, blankets or other similar items to use for seating at a match.

Rams Return Second-Most Letterwinners in Mountain West
- The Colorado State women's soccer team enters the 2017 season with perhaps its most experienced roster in its now five-year history. CSU returns 18 letterwinners from its 2016 squad, which ranks as the second-most of any team in the Mountain West.
- Of those 18 letterwinners, CSU also returns seven athletes that were regular starters in 2016. Additionally, 16 of those returning letterwinners made at least one start last season.

Two of Rams' Top Scorers Return for Junior Seasons
- Among the experienced athletes returning for the Rams in 2017 are two of the program's top scorers, junior forwards Kaija Ornes and Hannah Gerdin.
- Ornes, a native of Prior Lake, Minn., paced the Rams in both goals (4) and points (8) one season ago. The junior's four goals are the second-most scored in a single season in CSU's four-year history.
- Gerdin tallied four points last season on a goal and a pair of assists. The Colorado Springs, Colo., native is already CSU's all-time leading scorer with 16 points between her first two collegiate seasons. Gerdin scored a school single-season record five goals as a freshman en route to a CSU-record 12 points (five goals, two assists) her freshman season.

Rams to Face Trio of 2016 NCAA Tournament Participants
- Of the opponents on CSU's schedule for this season, three 2017 foes reached the NCAA Tournament in 2016. The Rams face one of those opponents in their very first match of the season, hosting Colorado in the very first contest in their new home facility.
- CSU travels to 2016 NCAA Tournament participant SIU Edwardsville for a matchup on Friday, Sept. 8. The two teams also met last season, a contest the Rams won, 2-1, at The Lagoon.
- CSU faces off against their third 2016 NCAA Tournament participant on Friday, Oct. 6, when the Rams take on UNLV in Las Vegas. UNLV won the Mountain West regular season and tournament titles in 2016, and finished the year with a 16-4-3 record.

Hodgson and Stone Named Team Captains for 2017
- When the Rams take the pitch this season, they will be led by captains Taylor Hodgson and Janelle Stone. The pair of seniors were formally announced as team captains prior to the team's spring schedule on Friday, March 31.
- Each of Hodgson and Stone joined the Rams as part of their 2014 recruiting class, their first since the program's inaugural season in 2013. Hodgson has appeared in 40 matches with 12 starts in her career, while Stone has made 49 starts in 52 appearances. Notably, Stone led the Rams in minutes played (1,073) through 13 matches before being sidelined for the season with an injury.

Young Rams
- While CSU does return a bulk of experience from their 2016 roster, the Rams' roster is also filled out by a large group of underclassmen. Five athletes on the roster are seniors, meaning that 82 percent (23 of 28 athletes) of the team has junior, sophomore or freshman eligibility.
- Over half of the team is made up of either freshmen or sophomores. Those two groups make up the core of CSU's roster, as they combine to compose 61 percent (17 of 28 athletes) of the club.

Newcomers Join Rams' Core for 2017
- Joining the Rams' core of 18 returning letterwinners are 10 newcomers. Eight of those newcomers are freshmen, including three forwards (Ally Murphy-Pauletto, Emma Shinsky and Taylor Steinke), three midfielders (Kallie Clements, Karli Eheart and Alyssa Yoshida) and two defenders (Bailyn Furrow and Lauren Jones).
- Among the two transfers is sophomore midfielder Caeley Lordemann, who joins the Rams after scoring 10 points in her freshman season at Creighton. Lordemann's 10 points ranked third among Crieghton athletes last season.
- Redshirt sophomore goalkeeper Hunter Peifer is set to compete with fellow goalkeepers Paige Brandt and Sydney Hall this season after joining the Rams from South Carolina. Peifer was 3-0-0 for the Gamecocks with a 0.29 goals against average.

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