Colorado State University Athletics
Colorado State
10-5-3, 5-3-2
San Diego State
13-3-2, 8-1-1
Rams Suffer Senior Day Defeat to SDSU
10/22/2023 6:08:00 PM | Women's Soccer
Stutzman nets two Big Five goals, Rams secure four-seed for conference tournament
Magic can appear out of nowhere in a soccer match, but sometimes there are harsh reminders it goes both ways.
Just three days after Colorado State soccer beat New Mexico on a miraculous header by Avery Vander Ven with 6 seconds left on the clock, San Diego State netted a winning goal in the 85th minute against the Rams to come away with a 3-2 victory.
Denise Castro's late winner wasn't the only magic on CSU's senior day, though. After a penalty in the 38th minute gave the Aztecs a one-goal lead, Ali Yoshida found Vander Ven on a corner kick with about 10 seconds to go in the half. Her header looked to be going wide until Liv Stutzman swooped in and tucked it away herself from a couple yards out.
Considering the Rams' frustrating endeavors trying to finish chances in the first half, Stutzman's chance in the dying moments was a gift. But in the moment, she knew it wouldn't be a freebie.Â
"I try not to think when the ball comes towards me because I tend to hit it over," Stutzman said. "It was coming towards me, and I just did what I was supposed to and finished it."
It was Stutzman's first of two goals in the match, both of which were in 'Big Five' moments, which are defined as the first and last 5 minutes of each half, and the 5 minutes directly after either team scores a goal. Those moments are crucial, especially in tight games, and Stutzman delivered in those situations.
Her second goal came just a minute after the Aztecs took another lead in the 64th minute when a frenzy in the box resulted in the ball bouncing off multiple players — and the post — and in the net. On the ensuing kickoff, Hale Otto produced a great pass to Stutzman, who buried it top left.
"Offensively, I was just getting myself into good places," Stutzman said. "Everyone was in the right spots, but it just happened to fall to me a couple of times. We've been emphasizing Big Five moments since I got here in the spring, so I just tried to capitalize on those because they're huge for us."
Head coach Keeley Hagen thought for the most part, the result was a combination of self-imposed mistakes but also an ability to fight hard against a conference-leading team like San Diego State.Â
A loss isn't a result any coach wants to see, but the faith she sees in her team is encouraging for Hagen.
"Some things were a little self-inflicted on our part and we talked about how we've really got to clean those things up," Hagen said. "But I'm really proud of our players' fight, we were true to our style and got some opportunities at the end of the game. I feel like this team is really starting to believe and that's a big part of the battle, so that's exciting."
Olivia Fout has had scoring duties for most of the season, but over the past few matches, the Rams have found a few more legitimate scoring threats in players like Stutzman, Sofia Coulombe and Mia Casey, all of whom have logged a multi-goal game in the past two weeks.
Great timing for a team to come alive offensively. Thursday against New Mexico, the Rams broke the program record for goals scored in a single season (26 in 2017 and 2019) with 29, with another match and the Mountain West tournament still to come.
"I think it's a credit to Fout. She's drawn two or three players to defend her," Hagen said. "When that happens, other players have to step up. They're going to be open and it's about execution and we talked about it at halftime today. Those players have gotten their chances and put them away."
Putting goals away at this rate is just what is needed with the conference tournament a week away.Â
But the biggest lesson learned for Hagen and her team after the match was they can battle with the best in the conference.
"We can hang with anybody," Hagen said. "We can compete and they're all close games, they're anybody's game. We've just got to clean up some of those mistakes as we go into our last game."
As it stands, the Rams are fourth in the conference with 17 points and cannot move up or down with one game left in the regular season for every team. Regardless of the outcome of their match against Wyoming on Thursday, Oct. 26, the Rams will play either Nevada, Air Force or New Mexico in the first round of the tournament on Sunday, Oct. 29.
CSU has beaten all three this season.
Team Stats
Kiera Utush (3)
SDSU Kiera Utush PENALTY KICK GOAL.
37:38
Liv Stutzman (4)
Assisted By: Ali Yoshida , Avery Vander Ven
GOAL by CSU Stutzman, Liv Assist by Yoshida, Ali and Vander Ven, Avery.
45:00
Olivia Sekimoto (5)
Assisted By: Alexys Ocampo , Denise Castro
GOAL by SDSU Sekimoto, Olivia Assist by Ocampo, Alexys and Castro, Denise.
64:02
Liv Stutzman (4)
Assisted By: Hale Otto
GOAL by CSU Stutzman, Liv Assist by Otto, Hale.
64:54
Denise Castro (9)
GOAL by SDSU Castro, Denise.
85:44
