First travel weekend, first conference weekend for Northern Colorado Soccer

GREELEY, Colo. - After the weekend of competition play against Southern Utah was canceled due to weather concerns, UNC will play its first conference matchups against Idaho State this coming weekend. The Bears will travel out to Pocatello on Thursday, March 18 for its games on Friday, March 19 and Sunday, March 21.

The last matchup between UNC and Idaho State was during the 2019 season. Lexi Pulley and Kalen Niedling found the back of the net and an own goal by the Bengals gave the Bears a 3-1 win at Jackson Stadium.

Head Coach, Tim Barrera comments: "My expectations are that we come out and play hard and have fun. We have an experienced team returning so we feel ready to play."

It seems that everyone from UNC is excited to get going with the Big Sky season and are very thankful to be able to compete after the pandemic pushed everything to the spring.

Graduate student, Olivia Seddon comments: "I think we are just excited to finally be out there and have a sense of normalcy since it has been so touch-and-go with COVID-19 and cancellations."

Since the Big Sky conference decided to split into two divisions (Northwest and Southeast), the Bears will be facing the same team twice in one weekend. "It will be interesting, but it will help us learn and make adjustments throughout the season," said Seddon. "We know it is a new year and we are a new team, but we are excited to defend our title and just finally put all our hard work to the test."

What to Expect from Idaho State

In the Bears' and Bengals' most recent battle, then senior Michaela Didericksen scored Idaho State's only goal. She will be returning to the field in the upcoming matchup as a graduate student, and potentially poses the biggest scoring threat to UNC.

Idaho State graduated eight seniors after the 2019 soccer season. With that said, head coach Debs Brereton welcomed 14 freshmen to the team. This will be Brereton's second season with the Bengals and with a young team, the pressure is on as they were voted to finish ninth in the Big Sky preseason polls.

Looking Forward

UNC will return to Greeley for a week off before stepping back into Jackson Stadium for its first home games against NAU on Saturday, April 3 and Monday, April 5.

To stay up to date on all things UNC soccer, visit UNCBears.com and follow the team on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.