Playing the Game Right to the Line
Stutzman supplies Rams with attitude when and where they need it
Mike Brohard
There are a host of literal lines on a soccer pitch.
There is also the proverbial one. Invisible, we are all taught as children not to cross it or suffer the consequences, so many choose to stay well behind, best not to test the boundaries.
Then there’s Liv Stutzman.
“She’s passionate. I want our players to be passionate,” Colorado State soccer coach Keeley Hagen said. “I also want them to be respectful. She’s done a great job in finding that balance. She goes to that last moment to where you’re not respectful. She manages her emotions in a way that helps our team. She can be a hammer, and we need hammers. I love that about her.”
Stutzman is a Fort Collins native who found her way home, and just in time. She has become the attitude the Rams need when they need her most. It’s the way she’ll fly through the air for a header with no real concern for her own personal safety. It’s the determined effort she puts into a hard, clean tackle. It’s the scowl on the face when she reads the moment and knows it is definitely go time.
Nobody around the program describes her in the same way.
Attitude. A chip on the shoulder. A mean streak (albeit with grace). Stutzman doesn’t really care what you call it – and she’s not tied to one descriptor either – she just plays, and she only knows one way to approach the game.
“With sass? Yeah, probably,” Stutzman said. “My teammates are generally scared to go into tackles with me. I’ve always been known as super feisty, so I guess sassy. When I was a kid, I tried to be nice. As I started playing more, and I played a lot with older girls, two years up, and then with boys – especially boys – I was definitely feisty because they’re so good. I’ve always been that way as I became older, and I’ve become more technical now. There’s a lot of contact in the Mountain West, so it helps.
“I’ll do anything to win the ball. If that means pushing them off the ball, without a foul of course, I’ll do it. That gets you hyped. Maybe a girl ends up on the ground, but it’s fun. The crowd loves it and the team gets a lot of energy when that stuff happens. I’ll be that enforcer on the field if that’s what I need to be, if that’s what the game asks. If we’re playing a physical team, I’m coming in mentally prepared to already do those things.”
Her collegiate story isn’t an unfamiliar one. Yes, she was recruited by Colorado State’s previous staff, but she committed early to the Rams’ rival as a freshman in high school. Having starred locally for clubs and Rocky Mountain High School, she wanted to experience something new.
Eventually, she wanted to come home, and after seeing her play, Hagen was more than happy to see her enter the portal. If there’s a player you don’t like playing against, your desire to get them on your team only grows.
It’s a great mean streak, and that’s from a positive sense. I think she plays a chip on her shoulder because she’s so competitive and she doesn’t ever want to lose.Keeley Hagen
She refers to them as “Liv moments.”
“You always want a player who has a little bit of a mean streak to her, and because of her competitiveness … I mean, she’s super respectful,” Hagen said. “You can see she has that fire about her which is really contagious. It’s a great mean streak, and that’s from a positive sense. I think she plays a chip on her shoulder because she’s so competitive and she doesn’t ever want to lose.
“If maybe as a team we’re in a bit of a lull, Liv’s the type of player who can win the ball in the air and be smashing about it. She’ll be physical about it, or she’ll get stuck in a tackle and it reinvigorates the team and gets them energy. You’ll see her track back really hard and make a great side tackle. Those types of plays re-energize the team in key moments.”
Stutzman was one of a few key additions the team made a year ago which helped the Rams push to their first appearance in the conference championship game, losing to Utah State 1-0. There was Avery Vander Ven helping to solidify the back row. Olivia Fout became the thunder up front with 12 goals. Youngsters Mia Casey and Sofia Coulombe came on late, producing all of their eight combined goals and 22 points in the final 10 contests.
Stutzman brings the biggest boom, though Fout and Katy Coffin are not shy about entering the arena. It’s hard to toe the line all the time without crossing it as a player and an official may place it differently, the result being a pair of yellows and one red card for Stutzman. It’s gonna happen, though Stutzman prefers to avoid it altogether.
She and Fout are too alike to go to each other for a voice of reason, but she has found Vander Ven to be a calming influence when the blood pressure rises.
“I think it’s also a part of her game. It’s a strength for her,” Vander Ven said. “It typically comes at times we need it because she’s willing to bring it for us. In practice she gets after us. it makes it better. I like to battle with her in practice. It makes not only me better, but everyone around us better.
“I think for her and me, we’ve been able to develop a relationship because we came in at the same time. After playing with her last fall, it’s open and honest communication. We give each other a look sometimes. We don’t necessarily need to talk, or it’s just a hand signal -- We’ve got this, or simmer down a little bit. She does the same for me.”
They exchanged a lot of looks the final game of the regular season when the Rams closed out a 1-0 victory over Wyoming, Stutzman’s old school. Go figure. She was fired up to play that match.
The greatest compliment she’s received is from former opponent’s who have admitted they don’t like playing against her. She has earned a reputation for being a hard-charger, but she’s also very much respected.
While this part of her game has always been there, the most impressive part of her debut season was her proving she could adapt and affect contests in every aspect.
She’s always been a defensive midfield, but last season, Hagen moved her into the role of an attacking mid and Stutzman responded with five goals (tied for second on the team) and 12 points (second behind Fout).
“Keeley took me out of my comfort zone and made me more of an attacking mid, which just broadened my game more,” Stuzman said. “I’ve been able to go to goal, make more tackles in the attacking third, sell out, cross and make plays. As a defensive mid, you get stuck passing and not have many attacking chances. Being able to do both sides has been so much more fun.
“I love that Keeley has been very supportive of me, my journey of transferring here and coming to a rival school, developing me as a player.”
There was more of the same this summer when Stutzman played for the local pre-professional team the Northern Colorado Rain. It was a roster with some pro experience, as well as players from power conferences. She described the play as more technical than physical, something she could still appreciate as she viewed it as an opportunity to grow her skillset.
Her mindset in one regard had already changed, again thanks to Hagen.
Like a lot of young athletes who are goal-oriented, Stutzman always looked at the bottom line. Hagen’s resurrection of the CSU program has the team dialed in on the process required, all of which lead to the ultimate outcome, one all of them hope will produce a championship.
During kids camps this summer, Hagen caught Stutzman telling the youngsters to focus on what it takes to get better, not getting better itself. The coach smiled.
So did Stutzman.
“Keeley talks a lot about process goals vs. outcome goals,” Stutzman said. “Outcome is obviously winning the Mountain West championship, but we focus literally – when I say every single training session, it’s session by session about how we’re going to get better that day. When we do perform and get to that championship it’s not going to be a surprise, because we’ve been working on the little goals every single day and every single match. It just adds up at the end, and you’re like, ‘yeah, that’s about right.’
“I’ve grown more here than anywhere else. We’ve talked about how much I’ve changed in these four years, and it’s been so awesome to me to think about how I used to think about me.”
I think I like knowing I’m going to win the ball. Every time I go up, I'm winning and you’re not.Liv Stutzman
Stutzman has started to become more vocal, another change. There’s another major alteration she’d like to finish.
She has appeared in the past two Mountain West championship matches. Both have been losses, the first in extra time with Wyoming, the second in the closing minutes a year ago. What has her encouraged is the Rams return with many of the same key pieces which produced the run. The Rams are a blend of veteran leadership and young, improving talent as Hagen enters her fourth season as the coach. CSU was 12-6-4 a year ago, a big step forward from 4-7-8 the year prior.
“It’s not all I think about, but I am haunted by both of those losses often,” Stutzman said. “They are very bittersweet because you get that far, work all season to get to the championship and win the championship, it’s tough to have not done that. It’s all the more motivating for the next season. I’m confident this season we’ll be able to finish it all the way through.”
The last lines of defense are solid for the Rams, a team which allowed 23 goals and posted nine shutouts. Offensively, Fout’s program-record 12 goals did not hide the fact the Rams had more scoring depth, putting 17 more in the back of the next than the season prior.
They can move the ball well, and while somebody like Stutzman isn’t required, Vander Ven said she’s vital for the type of team the Rams seek to become.
“I don’t think every team needs one, but I think successful teams need them,” she said. “We play a physical sport, so having one person, if not more, who are willing to put their body on the line and go into hard tackles and set the tone is necessary just to give the team energy. When you see the crowd react to big tackles like that, it hypes them up as well. I think with the physicality of the game, and the level of competition, having someone with a little attitude and spunk fires up the team. It’s an important piece.”
It will be Stutzman’s approach every single match, even in practice. See it through. Read the room and seize the Liv moment.
Go for the tackle to inspire her side, deflate the other. See the opportunity in the air, make a statement. Call it sassy or fiery. Maybe she’s an enforcer who plays with attitude. It’s not a problem for her or her team.
She knows exactly what she’s doing exactly when she does it.
“Yeah, I do. Knowing I’m going to win it,” she said. “Especially in the box, when I’m trying to score. I think I like knowing I’m going to win the ball. Every time I go up, I'm winning and you’re not.”
She puts her toe on the line, and that’s where it will stay. She’s not trying to cross over, but she will know when an opponent has. Soon after, so will they.