No-Look Goal Heads Rams to Victory

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Sep 19

6:00 p.m.

Women's Soccer

at Omaha

Sep 25

7:00 p.m.

Women's Soccer

at Utah State

Sep 28

12:00 p.m.

Women's Soccer

at Boise State

Oct 5

12:00 p.m.

Women's Soccer

vs UNLV

Oct 9

4:00 p.m.

Women's Soccer

vs Colorado College

FORT COLLINS – For a first career goal, the shot was absolutely amazing.

Spectacular even. Definitely a sight to behold.

Too bad Mia Massey never saw it enter the net.

"I saw my teammates reaction, then I saw everybody running to me," Massey said. "I was like, 'OK'"

Her goal in the 21st minute became the decisive goal in Colorado State's 2-1 victory over Nevada at the CSU Soccer Complex. This marks the second consecutive season the Rams have won their Mountain West opener – the only two times in program history.

It's never a bad thing to get off on the right foot.

"It's just building blocks from here," defender Kenady Leighton said. "There were a lot of good things that happened in this game, including the win, so we're just looking to build on that Sunday, and hopefully we'll get another win under our belt."

Colorado State didn't exactly enter the match on a roll. To the contrary. The Rams dropped their final two games of nonconference play after opening 5-0-1. To top it off, the team was without leading goal scorer Olivia Fout due to two yellow cards in the loss to Utah.

The Rams were going to need some other players to step forward and apply pressure, which is what happened, both coming on set pieces.

In the ninth minute, Katy Coffin hit a corner which found Avery Vander Ven, who then steered it toward Liv Stutzman. Stutzman wasted no time in firing past Nevada keeper Ally Larkin for the early lead and definitely a confidence boost for a squad looking to prove it was deeper than Fout alone.

"I think it was just important that we put away our chances today and I feel like we did that," Massey said. "We showed we can have more than one goal scorer. Obviously, we missed Fout, but we got the win anyway."

Partially because Massey put away a chance which no one actually thought was one.

Vander Ven set up at midfield for a free kick, and her attempt wasn't exactly what we designed. It came in rather low instead of carrying into the box, but it just happened to be where Massey was stationed.

The sophomore midfielder, who was named to the 2022 All-Mountain West Newcomer team, bent forward and flicked her head back. She did so with enough lift to cover about 25 yards and carry over the head of Larkin.

"Crazy. That's all I can think of when I think of that goal. Crazy," Leighton said. "I mean, we train that all the time, and that was just something where she was in the right place and read it well, and that's exactly what we work on and hope for coming from set pieces."

Massey admitted that wasn't her intent, which was simply to get the ball into the box where she hoped one of her teammates could do something with the chance. Instead, they all took the spectacle of it in awe. For Vander Ven, it was her second assist of the game, her fourth of the season, sitting tied for fourth in a single season.

Not all goals have to be pretty, but they all count the same, and it gave the Rams a 2-0 margin.

"It's a credit to her to be ready. She's ready in that position, so she set herself up to be in a good position and have an opportunity," CSU head coach Keeley Hagen said. "The service wasn't what we were hoping for, but it ended up working out. That's how our game works. Sometimes it's right place, right time. We gave up a goal a few weeks ago and it deflected off someone. You just have to be ready in all situations to either get the ball, or if not, be ready to get the ball."

It mattered because 12 minutes later the CSU defense made a mistake and the Wolf Pack pounced. Working he ball back, the Rams started moving it side to side on the back line and as they did, Nevada kept pushing forward. One mishandled pass was all it took, and with keeper Shayna Ross coming up to lend support, Brookly Blake had a clean look at an empty net.

Colorado State had outshot Nevada by a good margin in the first half (6-2 on net), but by the end of the game, both teams had registered seven shots on goal. The Wolf Pack pushed most of the second half, getting a couple of decent chances, but in both instances, Ross had a clear sight line to be able to make the save; she finished with a career-best six.

The Rams were more than happy to take what they could get, which was a win.

"We'll take a goal however at this point. It's so hard to score," Hagen said. "Credit to Nevada. They came out much better in the second half and we were a little bit on our heels. We just need to continue to adjust things, but they were fighting. We were able to get two goals off set pieces and had some other opportunities as well. That's how conference is – you take it and move on."

For certain, Massey's first goal as a collegiate player was one to remember. It just happens she was about the only player on the field not to see it take shape. All she had after the game were descriptions, so she was anxious to go find video of the play.

But she agreed with Hagen on a key point: She wasn't giving it back. Especially not her first.

"I mean, I'd prefer to see one of them go in," she said laughing, "but I'll take what I can get."

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Liv Stutzman

Mia Massey

Avery Vander Ven

Katy Coffin

Players Mentioned

Katy Coffin

Olivia Fout

Kenady Leighton

Mia Massey

Shayna Ross

Liv Stutzman

Avery Vander Ven

Players Mentioned

Katy Coffin

Olivia Fout

Kenady Leighton

Mia Massey

Shayna Ross

Liv Stutzman

Avery Vander Ven

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