Rams Embark on First Plane Trip of Season

FORT COLLINS, Colo. – A season doesn't feel real until the first trip through the airport for an away series.

The Colorado State soccer team departed Thursday afternoon for Denver International Airport en route to California for continued Mountain West action. First, the Rams (1-4-2, 0-2 MW) will face Fresno State (3-3-3, 1-0-1 MW) on Friday, Oct. 1^st at 8 p.m. MT under the lights of the Fresno State Soccer Stadium. A three-hour Saturday bus ride puts the Rams in San Jose for their Sunday 1 p.m. MT kickoff with San Jose State (4-6, 1-1 MW) at the Spartan Soccer Complex.

"We are excited to get away from campus as a team even if it's just for the weekend," head coach Keeley Hagen said. "Some of these student-athletes have been here since July, so I think it will be a good change of pace and an opportunity to bond as a team. Naturally, you spend more time with each other on the road, which is something the staff and team are looking forward to equally."

In the Rams' first three road contests, a bus sufficed for transportation, but Thursday's trip just to the airport will already supersede the longest one-way trip thus far. Colorado State is coming off a four-game homestand in which the Rams went 1-3 with all their goals in a 6-0 rout for Hagen's first win at the program. The last two contests started conference play and ended in similar fashions of one-goal losses, surrendering a goal right before the half. Looking to not only win their first conference game, but score their first conference goal, the Rams see these two games as opportunities.

"We are making strides at executing our game plan," Hagen continued. "It is my job to clarify and make things as simple as possible for success. It is an ongoing process to get better little-by-little each day in the system. Ultimately, I believe we can compete with any team in the Mountain West. For us, we are focusing on the little details and if we can execute these little details then we are going to be competitive. We are aiming to get six points on the road, but they will be tough matchups that will require execution of our plan. Every conference game will be, but we are ready for the challenge."

CSU Soccer Notebook

How to Follow
Game Live Stats: https://csura.ms/SOCStats
Game Live Stream: https://csura.ms/Live (Mountain West Network)

Last Time Out
- Last weekend, the Rams started conference play against the two Mountain West divisional winners – San Diego State and New Mexico – from the spring season and lost both in one-goal games. In the Friday game, San Diego State scored in the 42^nd minute despite a closely contested first half that saw the Aztecs outshoot the Rams by just 9-8. However, SDSU controlled there after in the second half with a wide margin of shots (11-3) and corner kicks (5-0).

- Sunday's game against the defending Mountain West Champion Lobos was much like Friday's game in that UNM scored in the 40^th minute right before half. The difference in this contest was that the Rams did come out of the break better by only getting outshot 9-6, but still couldn't find the net for the equalizer.

Six Goals
- Not only were the six goals a program record, but the 6-0 win over Idaho State was also the best goal differential for CSU in a game. Kristen Noonan and Gracie Armstrong nearly got hat tricks as they had two goals apiece, while Liv Layton and Kaitlyn Abrams provided the other two scores.

Lots of Free Soccer Early
- Overtime was a theme early in the season as three of the four regular season games needed extra time in addition to one of the exhibitions.

Lineup Shuffle Done?
- After five games and five starting lineups, the Rams utilized the same starting XI in both Mountain West openers last weekend. Six Rams (Samantha Studt, Haylee Blach, Baylee Bedard, Kenady Leighton, Amanda Green, Caroline Lucas) have started all seven games. Page 3 of the game notes has the breakdown of the starting lineups.

Series History
- The Rams trail both teams this weekend in the all-time series with the program's first win over both programs coming in 2019 and at home. Later in that season, the Rams fell to FS in the first round of the conference tournament in a shootout. Full series history and last meeting box scores are on page seven of the game notes.

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

- Studt has started 47 of her 50 career games. Blach has started all 14 career games at CSU. Bedard has started 27 of 36 games played since arriving in 2018.

Colorado State Notes
- Fifteen letterwinners return including 11 starters, however only six of those would have been considered starters after the last full season in 2019.

- Armstrong represents the top point returner with her six from the spring and 23 in her career. Her seven career goals is tied fourth all-time, while she already holds the career and individual season assist records - both at eight.

- Another key returner on offense is senior Kristen Noonan who has 14 career collegiate goals with five coming as a freshman at Cal State Fullerton.

- Getting to the corner. The Rams are sixth in the Mountain West in corners per game with 4.71.

Bulldog Notes
- After starting off 1-2 in August, Fresno State went 2-1-3 in September with a 10-4 goal differential and hasn't lost since Sept. 3rd.

- FS was picked to finish in fourth place in the MW coaches' preseason poll. In each of the last
three seasons that saw a MW tournament (2017, 2018, 2019), FS has finished in the top six of to earn a spot in the postseason tournament.

- Despite being 10^th in the conference in shots with 90 total for an average of 10 per game, the Bulldogs are in the middle of the pack when it comes to finding the net. Fresno State has 11 goals on the year for an average of 1.22/game.

Spartan Notes
- In a rare away-home conference weekend, San Jose State lost in double overtime at Air Force and then defeated Colorado College at home last weekend.

- In the preseason coaches' poll, the Spartans were picked to finish eighth - one spot in front of the Rams. Last season, SJSU finished 2-7-1 and return nine starters.

- A total of eight Spartans have found the back of the net through the team's first 10 games. Phillips is the lone player to net multiple goals.

Team Connections w/ Bulldogs
- Ali Yoshida ('Iolani School #3) and Fresno State's Jordan Lau (Punahou School #2) played in the same league during high school

Team Connections w/ Spartans
- Ali Yoshida ('Iolani School) defeated Shayla Sugai (Aiea HS) in the second round of Hawaii playoffs during their junior years of 2018-19

- During their senior campaigns in 2019, Kenady Leighton (Sheldon HS) lost to Jaiden McClellan (Jesuit HS) in the second round of the Oregon State Championship

-Shayna Ross played with SJSU sophomore Jordan Rowell at Torrey Pines HS. Also played on San Diego Surf with Kayla Fortenberry.

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

Calendar

Upcoming Events

Recent Results