Falcons squeak past Soccer Bears in exhibition opener
By RYAN PFEIFER
UNCBears.com
GREELEY -- Northern Colorado Women's Soccer fell 2-1 to Air Force on Saturday night in its first of two home exhibition games against the Falcons at Jackson Field.
The teams will take the field again at 4 p.m. Monday in Greeley for the Bears' final tune up before their regular season starts.
Northern Colorado scored first Saturday with a goal from senior forward Danielle Birdsall just more than 15 minutes into the first of three periods.
Air Force responded with an equalizer from freshman forward Allie Baumgarten 2:32 into the second period, and AFA sophomore midfielder Tory Gullo put in the game-winner at 6:17 in the second period.
Although the Bears did not win the game they did out shoot the Falcons 12-7, including 4-3 in shots on goal.
"Our primary goal today was to look at a number of players, and we had a good chance to do that," Northern Colorado coach Tim Barrera said. "We want to be able to keep the ball better on Monday and do better with the ball when we have it."
Senior goalkeeper Natalie D'Adamio, replacing all-conference goalie Kirsten Salminen, played well Saturday in her first career extensive action for the Bears.
"I thought her presence and distribution out there was very good," Barrera said. "She really could not do much to stop those two goals."