Rams Defeat Tigers for First Time Ever in Homecoming Matinee

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8:00 p.m.

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4:00 p.m.

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By: Savvy Rafkin
FORT COLLINS, Colo. – Homecoming weekend was a big deal, especially for Colorado State soccer.

With the first affair of the eventful weekend taking place at the CSU Soccer Field, the spotlight was on for the contest against Colorado College on Friday afternoon.

The Rams had yet to take a victory over the Tigers ever, so the excitement and anticipation for the match was only heightened. To the thrill of fans and players alike, Colorado State secured its first win against the Tigers 1-0. CSU improved to 3-5-2 overall and 2-3 in the Mountain West, while the Tigers fell to 2-9-1 and 1-2-1 in conference. Prior to today's victory, the Rams were 0-4-3 against CC.

"This is what we've been needing," forward Kristin Noonan said. "It's all coming together, it's all clicking, and I feel like we're all doing what we need to do."

The first half of the game consisted of CSU hovering around CC's goal, taking several shots and missing by mere feet and totaling four shots on the goal to end the first half.

At halftime, the match with the Tigers remained scoreless, despite the Rams' persistence. A third of the way through the second half, Gracie Armstrong drove in a goal at 56:26, assisted by Noonan. Kaitlyn Abrams set up the play by chasing down a ball on the left, then sending a cross into the box. As the CC goalie and a defender bumped into each other, Noonan passed the ball to an open Armstrong on the right, who fired home a low shot.

Armstrong now has nine goals in her CSU career, tied for third with Noonan. Now with 26 career points, she moves into second all-time at CSU, passing former teammate Taylor Steinke.

To add to the excitement, the players felt as if this was a spark for the team.

"I think this was our breakthrough in regard to little victories like being 0-0 in the first half," Armstrong said. "We came back and were up 1-0 and not down 1-0; we've had a lot of those games recently."

Though Colorado College outshot the Rams 13-10, it was to head coach Keeley Hagen's delight for the team to capitalize on their opponent's weakness.

"Overall I'm pleased," Hagen said. "We had performance goals for each half, and this is the first game we played both halves to complete those goals. I'm happy about scoring, so we want to keep that going, so it's exciting."

Sarah Hogenkamp led the team in shots with three and one on the goal, followed by Noonan with two shots and two on the goal. Overall, the team put up seven shots on the goal and 13 total.

CSU netminder Shayna Ross (2-0), who has been in goal for the two-game streak, stopped three shots in the win.

And with such a big crowd drawn for the Homecoming festivities, the CSU soccer program is thrilled to get the love they have been waiting for from Rams fans.

"We're loving the energy from the fans," Armstrong said. "It's definitely a huge factor."

And as the team gears up to take on the Air Force Falcons on Sunday, they need all the momentum and confidence they can get, and a two-game winning streak is a good start.

The final three games at CSU's Soccer Field leaves ample time to finalize the team's improvements and end the home schedule on a positive note.

"We're going to recover tomorrow and show some game film in the morning and continue to improve," Hagen said. "It's not about who we play, it's about getting better each game. I thought we got better last game to this game and we played with more composure. Passing and receiving was good, and we can still clean up quite a few things. I'm excited to play this Sunday and we're going to get better."

Next

The Rams will play Air Force in their annual State Pride Game on Sunday, Oct. 10 at 3 p.m. MT at the CSU Soccer Field.

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

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