Rams Post Record Win Against Lobos

Mia Casey just keeps on going. Olivia Fout is gaining speed, and both are positive developments for a team chasing a first title.

The Colorado State duo – one, this year's leading point producer, the other last season's – scored goals on Thursday night at CSU Soccer Field as the Rams maintained their spot at the top of the Mountain West standings with a 3-1 victory over New Mexico.

"I think people are stepping up. You specifically look at Fout's goal, and Avery Vander Ven is taking the space she has and gets an assist," CSU coach Keeley Hagen said. "That's what we need toward the end of the season. Everybody has to step up and take what's given to them.

"We talked at halftime. We want to be relentless. We want to be ruthless. I'm proud of everybody stepping up."

The hosts improved to 7-0-2 in conference, 11-3-3 overall. The seven wins mark a program record for a season with two more matches remaining to play. The overall standard for wins in a season stands at 12, accomplished twice, once by last season's squad which played for the conference championship.

Fout transferred into the program a year ago from Auburn and immediately put a stamp on the program with her scoring prowess. Her 12 goals set the CSU record for a season, her 27 points standing second for a slate.

In the championship game, she sustained an ACL injury and has been working her way back ever since. Building up her minutes consistently since an early season setback, the junior's offensive presence has become more noticeable, her goal the second of the season, both coming in the past two contests. She played 90 minutes at Nevada for the first time this season, producing an assist as she's now on a three-match point streak.

"I've been feeling really confident, and I think it's the team, too," Fout said. "They're putting me in good positions. Kudos to Keeley, she's been working with me since my second surgery just to get me back, give me that confidence, give me those minutes and I'm just taking my opportunities when I get them."

Fout's goal was delivered in the 23^rd minute when Vander Ven, a defender, broke out her inner forward, taking a ball from the back half and rushing all the way into the attacking third, delivering a pass from the right corner to a waiting Fout breaking from the left. It took a moment for Fout to collect and settle the ball, and once she did, she fired off a laser to easily beat New Mexico keeper Callie Droitsch.

Fout admitted waiting for the first goal was a bit frustrating considering she had a handful of strong looks leading up to her hitting the net two matches prior. Everything she's been working on in her return paid off with her score against the Lobos.

"It's working on the extra touches and just working reps. At the end of the day, it will just come naturally. You can't force it," she said. "I was trying to finish it the first time, but it didn't work. I swung and I missed, but I noticed no one was stepping out and I find myself in these situations everyday in practice, so I just placed it and hit it."

There isn't a person on the team who hasn't been rooting for Fout to find her form once again, and while the Rams waited, a host of others were doing their part.

It's a team with 11 different goal scorers, the leader entering the night was Maggie Altman with five. Now she has company, and all of them are thankful for Fout joining the party.

"It's the best thing ever," Casey said. "Fout has been an inspiration for everybody, especially with Sofia Coulombe, now that she's out. I know it helps Sofia seeing somebody come back from an injury get back in their groove and not letting it hold them back. That's great. Everybody is rooting for Fout. She's doing her things, she's scoring goals like she was last year, same type of goals, so that's awesome to see."

The Lobos didn't generate much offensive pressure in the first half, but CSU goalie Libby Brooker had to come up big in the 35^th minute by rising up to make an outstretched save to keep the sheet clean on a ball destined for the upper left corner by Natalie DeGagne.

Then it was this season's scoring sensation who expanded the advantage. Moving up to the front line after a substitution, she created a turnover outside the box. Her first shot was deflected by a nearby defender, but the sophomore quickly recollected the ball and put a shot right over the goalie for her fifth tally of 2024.

All 17 of her conference-leading points (third most in a single season at CSU) have come since the schedule turned to Mountain West play, going without one in the nine non-conference tilts. It's a similar pattern to her debut season, when four of her five goals and her lone assist came during league.

Once she stopped thinking about producing points, she started delivering them.

"I keep thinking about conference, because that's when I started scoring my points. I was super discouraged all of preseason," she said. "I'm not scoring, I'm not assisting, what's going on. It's just trusting the process. I talked with our sport psychologist about the importance of it, because it was making me upset and hating to come to practice.

"It's more fun when you're not worried about scoring. I go into every game not thinking about how I'm going to score, just how I'm going to play, going to defend and going to track, and it's a big difference."

Fout, who knows about finding the back of the net, sees a teammate who is just a little more confident to go with her persistence. The best part is the diversity which comes from Casey's game.

While she's now tied for the team lead in goals, her seven assists are well above the pack.

"Kudos to Mia. She is an excellent player," Fout said. "She sets me up, she sets the rest of the team up and she finds the back of the net. She is one of the best players I've ever played with, and outside of soccer, she's just a great human."

The Rams continued to put on the pressure with Liv Stutzman missing a chance on the doorstep and Kaja Dionne hit the crossbar, but shortly thereafter, Taite DeLange, who recently had subbed in, settled a header in the box off a Lobo and pushed a shot past the goalie for her second tally of the year in the 63^rd minute for a 3-0 lead.

The other half of the Rams' successful equation has been the defensive presence, and Brooker came up big a couple of times in the second half, but the Lobos broke the seal in the 83^rd minute when a Brooker punchout off a corner found the foot of Presley Devey.

With two matches remaining, Hagen said the team hasn't talked about titles or tournament seeding. She said all of that will fall into place keeping to the plan.

"We don't even talk about that. There's still six points out there," she said. "It's anybody's fight. We've been so hyper-focused on the process, that's what it's about. The process is right now, and we have to recover. Just taking care of our business. The beginning of the year, middle of the year, end of the year, it's how are we trying to get better."

Which the team, and two of it's most dynamic scorers, are currently doing.

Calendar

Upcoming Events

Recent Results

Next Event

Team Stats

Mia Casey

Olivia Fout

Taite DeLange

Avery Vander Ven

Players Mentioned

Maggie Altman

Libby Brooker

Mia Casey

Sofia Coulombe

Taite DeLange

Kaja Dionne

Olivia Fout

Liv Stutzman

Avery Vander Ven

Players Mentioned

Maggie Altman

Libby Brooker

Mia Casey

Sofia Coulombe

Taite DeLange

Kaja Dionne

Olivia Fout

Liv Stutzman

Avery Vander Ven

Upcoming Events

Recent Results

Colorado State University Athletics