Bears win home opener and second in a row against Mountain West foe

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GREELEY, Colo. – The Northern Colorado women's soccer team is showing that it knows how to start a season off the right way. In their home opener, the Bears took care of business and used two first-half goals to put away Air Force 2-0.

Northern Colorado seemed to be in control for most of the game, allowing the Falcons just one shot on goal for the game and outshooting Air Force 17-5.

The Bears got on the board in the 29th minute when Kimmie Feidler headed home a cross by Janelle Kramer. Feidler's header was virtually impossible to save as it sailed past goalkeeper Kelly Stambaugh into the upper-left corner of the net.

The second goal for Northern Colorado came on a penalty kick in the 36th minute after Air Force committed a foul inside its own penalty area. Ariel Cook came through for the Bears, knocking in the penalty kick and putting the team up 2-0.

Just minutes later, Northern Colorado was presented with another great scoring opportunity when Air Force's Meagan Eissele was ejected after being booked for a red-card. The Bears were awarded another penalty kick, but freshman Brittany Dunn was denied by Stambaugh.

"The team played really well in the first-half today," said Northern Colorado head coach Tim Barrera. "I thought we came out and attacked well. I felt we were more athletic than Air Force and thought we could definitely wear them down in the hot weather."

The Bears seemed to accomplish Barrera's goals in the first half, continuing to attack the Falcons despite the thermometer sitting at the mid-90s for most of the game.  The team mustered eight shots in the first period.

"While I was really happy with the way we came out in the first-half and were really aggressive, I was hoping we could get that insurance goal so we could play a few more players and keep some of the starters out of the heat," Barrera said. "I thought we played with less energy in the second-half even though Air Force was down a player."

While the Falcons had only ten players for the second-half, the Bears were unable to put away another goal, but did manufacture a couple good opportunities when Brittani Knott had two shots that sailed just above the crossbar.

"It always feels good to beat an instate-rival like Air Force and the two wins right out of the gate give us a lot of confidence going into Friday's game against Idaho," said Barrera. "Idaho is a team, like us, that has improved steadily over the last few years and should give us a pretty good challenge."

Northern Colorado's next game will be at Jackson Field on Friday, August 27 when they take on the Vandals of Idaho.