Bears Soccer Falls to Colorado State, 3-1

Sunday, September 13

Greeley, Colo.

1:00 pm

University of Northern Colorado

4-3-0

Colorado State

2-3-1

Colorado State

Northern Colorado

Photo by: Dean Popejoy

9/13/2015 6:02:00 PM | Women's Soccer

Box Score

The Bears are now 4-3-0 on the season after a Sunday afternoon loss at home to the Rams

GREELEY, Colo. – The UNC Women's Soccer team took their second loss at home to the Colorado State Rams on Sunday afternoon. Despite outshooting the Rams 14-12, the Bears fell short, losing 3-1.

The first 20 minutes of the game were fairly uneventful for both sides, with only two shot-attempts taking place, both by the Bears. A 22^nd minute foul on UNC resulted in a penalty kick by the CSU's Gianna Marconi. Marconi scored the goal, putting the Rams up 1-0.

Within the next twenty minutes, the Rams had three missed shot-attempts, the last of which bounced off of a Bear defender, giving CSU's Taylor Nelson easy access for another successful shot on the goal.

The Bears only took another two shots throughout the rest of the period, making their total for the half four shots with two on goal, and were unable to put any points on the board to go into halftime down 2-0.

"It was a difficult game," head coach Tim Barrera said. "I thought we played pretty well in the very beginning of the match but then we had a giveaway with the foul in the box for a penalty kick. That's just a bad way to start a match."

Both teams were more aggressive in the second half, the first shot taking place after only 28 seconds. CSU put up three shots in the first five minutes, with one block by UNC defenders and two saves by senior goalkeeper Kaitlin Ruff. The Bears fought back, attempting four shots before a 56^th minute goal by freshman Mariel Gutierrez, her first of the season and of her collegiate career.

After cutting the Rams' lead to one goal, UNC continued to push hard, picking up two more shots on goal before Colorado State's Nelson snuck another shot past Ruff to extend their lead to 3-1 in the 69^th minute.

A late 88^th minute penalty shot attempt by Gutierrez all but ended the Bears' chances of closing the gap, ending the game at 3-1 and moving the UNC 2015 record to 4-3-0.

Both team picked up three corner kicks apiece, and both goalies added four saves to their individual records. Colorado State managed to more than double the Northern Colorado foul count, with 13 compared to UNC's five.

"We came out playing well in the second half with Mariel scoring a nice goal, but we ended up missing a penalty kick again," Barrera added. "The teams tend to increase the intensity when they get into the second half – there's more of a back-and-forth because the players get tired. It was a hard fought match…we just didn't perform as well as we could have."

Sunday's game also served as the Bark in the Park promotion, where fans were able to bring their dogs to the game to enjoy the weather. Denkai Sanctuary was also present, giving out information on their rescue and taking donations to those who brought them. The dogs in attendance were also recognized at halftime.

Next, the Bears travel to Cheyenne, Wyoming for a 7:00PM game against the Wyoming Cowgirls on Tuesday, September 15^th. The game will be played at Cheyenne East High School, and will be the thirteenth time the two teams have met.

For more information on the Bears this season, check out UNCBears.com, visit the official Facebook page (Northern Colorado Women's Soccer) or follow them on Twitter at @UNCBearsSoccer.