Pink Out and Senior Day Ends Soccer Home Slate

FORT COLLINS, Colo. – Sending the seniors out on a high note in front of friends and family is one thing, but also the Colorado State soccer team has a lot to play for with five regular season games left.

The Rams at 3-3 and nine points in the Mountain West are tied for fourth with two other teams – one of which CSU has defeated. This weekend's opponents, Nevada (2-2-2) and UNLV (2-4), are just below the Rams in the standings, wanting to be in the discussion of the six teams that advance to the Mountain West Championships.

"I have told my staff that I am not even looking at the standings," head coach Keeley Hagen said. "It is one game at a time. Last weekend was Homecoming and we wanted to kick it off with a good start, which we did. This weekend is the same concept for Senior Day, so we want to open up strong and continue to get better."

Aside from the implications of the matches, Friday's game against the Wolf Pack at 3 p.m. will feature the Rams in their pink kits for Breast Cancer Awareness. On Sunday before the 1 p.m. kickoff versus the Rebels, the Rams will honor all six seniors with a Senior Day ceremony.

"It is really special," Hagen said about Senior Day. "As a player, you never forget it. It is great that we will have the family and fan support out there on Sunday like we have all year long. These seniors have impacted the program prior to my arrival, and they continue to do so. We want to make sure to highlight their accolades and send them out on a high note at home."

Riding a three-game win streak and outscoring its opponents 4-1, the Rams look to continue their momentum offensively. On the defensive side, freshman goalkeeper Shayna Ross is 3-0 since taking over the starting position and has tallied 13 saves in the process. On Tuesday, the 5-foot-10 netminder was named MW Defensive Player of the Week and Co-Freshman Player of the Week. Ironically, Nevada's Emily Rich mirrored that by winning the offensive version and sharing the freshman honor.

"Both teams [Nevada & UNLV] are getting results in our conference and trending upwards," Hagen added about the opponents. "That's what you hope for when you are getting close to the end of conference play, us included. Nevada is a type of team that although they have only won three games, they are really gritty. They beat San Diego State by not giving up. We've talked about that with our team and how it is one of our core values of never quitting and keep going until the end, so that will be important for Friday. UNLV is the same way in that they have been finishing tough late in games. The message to our team is to play hard throughout."

CSU Soccer Notebook

How to Follow
Game Live Stats: https://csura.ms/SOCStats
Game Live Stream: https://csura.ms/Live (Mountain West Network) + Evoca TV Denver Local3 (Sunday Only)
Admission is free for all of the 2021 season

Last Time Out
- Homecoming treated the Rams well with two 1-0 wins against Colorado College and Air Force. Gracie Armstrong scored off a Kristen Noonan assist in the 56th minute to defeat CC for CSU's first Mountain West home win of the season. On Sunday, Armstrong and Sarah Hogenkamp fed an open Liv Layton for the goal that sunk Air Force 1-0, marking CSU's fourth-straight win over AFA.

Hagen's Senior Day | October 29, 2004
- KNOXVILLE, Tenn. When you're writing up a script for a "Senior Night," it's hard to imagine a better evening than the one the Lady Vols enjoyed on Friday at the UT Soccer Complex. Prior to kickoff, Tennessee (13-3-2, 10-1-0 SEC) honored a seven-member senior class, then headed out on the field and defeated rival Georgia, 2-0, to clinch the program's second consecutive Southeastern Conference regular-season championship.

- Keeley Dowling along with another teammate made the game-winning assist.

- "Both my parents were there. It was neat to have it all come to a close. It [college] goes really fast and everybody talks about that, but when you are actually standing there you feel that and it's a good way to close out the senior year and what you have done in your four years. It was a very enjoyable moment. From my specific senior day, we had won three SEC Championships in four years which was the first time ever for the program. That was exciting. We put the stamp on the program and there were a lot of good memories."

Shayna Ross, the Netkeeper
- Two shutout wins earned Shayna Ross MW Defensive Player of the Week and Co-Freshman of the Week. The 5-10 keeper tallied eight saves.

Senior Day
- The six seniors that CSU will honor pregame include Amanda Green, Sam Studt, Haylee Blach, Gracie Armstrong, Baylee Bedard, and Kristen Noonan. Studt is the only one who played exclusively for CSU, but her and Bedard equally played four seasons with the Rams. Armstrong and Noonan arrived prior to the program best 2019 campaign. Blach joined as a graduate player before the 2020 season, while Green came at the beginning of this season.

Lineup Shuffle, Maybe Done ?
- Through eleven games, the Rams have utilized eight different lineups. However, the lineup did not change in last weekend's games, which saw the Rams earn two wins. Only one Ram (Kenady Leighton) has started all 11 games. Page 3 of the game notes has the breakdown of the starting lineups.

Three Game Win Streak + the First Two "Firsts"
- Two Sundays ago, CSU used two goals in the final 10 minutes to defeat San Jose State and earn its first road win and first MW win of 2021.

"C" Badger
- After a team vote, captains were picked prior to game one and the results were all seniors; Sam Studt, Haylee Blach and Baylee Bedard.

- Studt has started 50 of her 54 career games. Blach has started all 17 career games played at CSU. Bedard has started 30 of 40 games played since arriving in 2018.

Series History
- Mirror images. The Rams lead the Wolf Pack 6-1 and trail the Rebels 1-6. CSU has won the last three meetings versus UNR and are undefeated at home (3-0). In 2019, the Rams obtained their first win against UNLV in Las Vegas to a tone of 5-2. Full series history and last meeting box scores are on page seven of the game notes.

Wolf Pack Notes
- Last weekend, Nevada tied defending conference champion New Mexico and then defeated the defending MW West Division champs San Diego State, 3-2. Freshman Emily Rich was named the Mountain West Offensive and Co-Freshman player of the Week.

- After being picked to finish in the cellar, UNR is surprising the MW and currently sit seventh. Defensively, UNR averages five saves a game - good for second in the MW - while offensively averaging 4.77 corners/game for fourth.

Rebel Notes
- Before arriving to Fort Collins, UNLV will battle Wyoming on Friday.

- In the preseason coaches' poll, the Rebels were picked to finish fifth - four spots ahead of CSU. UNLV is coming off of the same two opponents as UNR, however the Rebels lost to SDSU in overtime before handing the Lobos their first loss of the season on two late goals.

Team Connections w/ Wolf Pack
- Ali Yoshida and Nevada's Ally Little played each other five times in their senior years of high school. Yoshida of 'Iolani School and Little of Punahou School in Hawaii.

Team Connections w/ Rebels
- Liz Deitsch and UNLV's Nailah Harping both were part of the same graduating class at Monarch High School in Louisville, Colo.

- Rachel Hall played with Riley Liebsack for the Pateadores Development Academy

For More on Colorado State Women's Soccer follow: Twitter – CSUFutbol | Instagram – csufutbol | Facebook – Colorado State Soccer

Calendar

Upcoming Events

Recent Results