Rams defeat Northern Colorado, 2-1, on Thursday to complete undefeated Colorado Cup

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FORT COLLINS, Colo. – Junior midfielder Caeley Lordemann and sophomore forward Ally Murphy-Pauletto each scored to hoist the Colorado State women's soccer team to a 2-1 win over the Northern Colorado Bears and to the Rams' first-ever undefeated Colorado Cup. The match between the Rams and Bears was contested from CSU Soccer Field on Thursday.

Lordemann's 44th minute strike, the first goal for any Ram this season, came off a free kick created when sophomore forward Taylor Steinke was fouled just outside of the penalty area. The Greeley, Colo., native picked the top-right corner on her free kick opportunity, giving the Rams the lead and momentum heading to halftime. That momentum took only six minutes out of halftime to pay dividends, as Murphy-Pauletto scored on a rebound off a ball from Steinke to extend the Rams' lead to 2-0.

Northern Colroado's lone goal came in the 57th minute, when the Bears were awarded a penalty kick following a handball by a CSU defender that occurred in the penalty area. UNC's Maddie Roberts took the shot, beating Peifer to the left side to account for the Bears' tally.

CSU withstood a pair of early opportunities for UNC to keep the match scoreless early. The first of those chances came in the 11th minute, when CSU keeper Hunter Peifer had to dive and stretch her hand out to the bottom-right corner of the net to deny a header by the Bears' Maddie Barkow. Five minutes later, UNC's Lexi Pulley had her shot ring off the left post. The Bears' best remaining scoring opportunity came in the 71st minute, when a Mariel Gutierrez try that was stopped by a leaping Peifer caromed off the keeper's hands and then off of the crossbar.

STAT OF THE MATCH
With Thursday's result, Colorado State completed its first undefeated three-match stretch in the Colorado Cup. The Rams have competed in the three-match iteration of the tournament three times, with their previous best finish at 1-2-0.

IN THEIR WORDS
Colorado State head coach Bill Hempen
"It was our first game at home, and I think they played a little nervous to start. UNC hit the post twice, and in past years those may have gone in, but they didn't today. That said, we won. You've got these conditions with the wind that are difficult to play soccer in, where people are battling to get the ball under control…I'm not sure anybody had it completely under control for any length of time today. That was a challenge, as were all of the long throw-ins they had, which are extremely difficult to deal with. It becomes a battle of one team's will against another, and at least in that area, we were stronger. So, we'll take it."

NOTES

With Thursday's result, the Colorado State women's soccer team is off to its best three-match start (1-0-2, .667) in its now-six-season history. The Rams' previous-best three-match start was 1-1-1 (.500) in 2015.
Thursday's victory also clinches Colorado State's longest unbeaten streak to start a season.
With the win, CSU moves to 3-2-1 all-time in matches played against Northern Colorado.
CSU is now 2-1-0 in matches played against UNC in Fort Collins, Colo.
Junior midfielder Caeley Lordemann and sophomore forward Ally Murphy-Pauletto now each have four goals in their respective CSU careers, tying each other for the fifth-most by any player in program history.

UP NEXT
The Colorado State women's soccer team bookends its weekend at home with a match against the Northern Iowa Panthers on Sunday. Kickoff is slated for 12 p.m. MT from CSU Soccer Field.

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