@UNCBearsSoccer Defeats Weber State To Remain Undefeated In Big Sky Play

Sunday, October 4

Greeley, Colo.

1:00 pm

University of Northern Colorado

7-5

Weber State

5-7-1

Weber State

Northern Colorado

10/4/2015 8:05:00 PM | Women's Soccer

Box Score

Northern Colorado shut out the Wildcats, 1-0, Sunday afternoon

GREELEY - Northern Colorado Soccer shut out the Weber State Wildcats Sunday afternoon, 1-0, for their third-straight Big Sky win this season. This is only the second time since joining the conference in 2006 that the Bears have started 3-0 in conference games. Additionally, this is the team's fifth shut out this season.

"Weber State is a good team that has a lot of older players like we do; they played hard and they played well," Head Coach Tim Barrera noted. "They do a good job of knocking the ball around so we knew we were going to have to defend quite a bit. The first half was back and forth up until Mariel got the late goal, but then in the second half we just couldn't get a hold of the ball as much as we would've liked."

The first half proved to be a mid-field struggle for possession between the two teams, resulting in only six shot attempts for the Wildcats the entire 45 minute period, landing only one shot on goal that was easily saved by Bear goalkeeper Kaitlin Ruff. Northern Colorado, on the other hand, had only two shots in the period, one of which came on goal.

Both teams picked up one yellow card in the first half, the Bears' coming only 23 minutes in after Essence Ortiz-Laneir drew her third foul of the game.

Freshman Mariel Gutierrez would make strides offensively for UNC, taking both shots in the half for the Bears, the first after 11 minutes of play [blocked by Weber State defenders] and the second near the end of the period just over 42 minutes in. The second shot, coming after Gutierrez drove the ball all the way up the field unassisted, resulted in the lone goal of the game, putting the UNC squad up 1-0 to go into halftime.

Following the halftime break, Gutierrez yet again came out fighting to take the ball forward for UNC, bringing the ball near the Weber State goal only a minute into the half, just narrowly missing another goal after the ball was deflected by the crossbar.

The Wildcats responded, taking all six of their shots for the half, three of which were on goal (all saved by Ruff) within the next 13 minutes of play. The UNC defense would prevent Weber State from getting close enough for another shot after the 60 minute mark.

Another midfield battle would ensue, both teams drawing 13 fouls throughout the entire game by the time the clock expired. Ortiz-Laneir received her second yellow-card of the game, and subsequently a red card, with almost 10 minutes to go in the half, pulling her out of the game and leaving the Bears to fight the remaining time with only 10 girls on the field.

Despite being down one player on the field, making it harder for the Bears to move toward the Wildcat goal, junior Sydney Schroeder managed to move the ball up far enough to pick up the fourth and final shot of the game for the Bears in the 83rd minute.

"Both teams were playing hard and there are going to be a lot of one-on-one confrontations when you're fighting for possession of the ball. Playing the last ten minutes down a player was tough, especially after a late game on Friday and the rain this weekend making the field a bit heavy. I give the girls a lot of credit for being able to battle through it."

UNC managed to hold on to their lead, defending their goal against Weber State to pick up a 1-0 win.

Overall, Northern Colorado was actually outshot by the Wildcats 12-4, with only two shots on goal compared to the Weber State four. The Bears did, however, have the lone corner kick of the game.

This is the first time in the series between Northern Colorado and Weber State that the Wildcats were unable to score a single goal, and only the fourth time the Bears have won (out of 12 total games).

"In our league, it is extremely important to get points at home, so getting the six points this weekend to have nine points after the first three matches is big, especially going into the next two weekends on the road. We really do have to take it one game at a time, and Northern Arizona is a team that plays really well at home, so this week we'll definitely move to focus on that."

Northern Colorado takes to the road next weekend for another two game weekend, first traveling to Flagstaff, Arizona for a Friday night game against Northern Arizona [7PM MT], and then to Cedar City, Utah, to face Southern Utah on Sunday afternoon [1PM MT].

For more information on the Bears this season, check out UNCBears.com, visit the official Facebook page, or follow them on Twitter at @UNCBearsSoccer.