Western women’s soccer rally falls one goal short

Western Colorado fell behind by two goals and tried to rally with Jordan Welsh's program-record eighth goal of the season, but host Colorado Christian University held off the remainder of the Mountaineer challenges for a 2-1 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference soccer win Sunday at Trailblazer Stadium.

Western is now 6-8-1 on the season. CCU is 5-8-4.

The Cougars began the game with an aggressive push into their attacking third, and that aggression finally paid off in the 14th minute as a corner kick eventually required two quick saves in the goal box by Western goalkeeper Addison Blick. But the third rapid-fire attempt by CCU's Alexis Byrd finally cleared Blick's prone figure for a 1-0 Cougar lead.

Western would enter the halftime break with a 9-7 advantage in total shots, but it was Byrd's lone marker of the half that was the only light on the scoreboard.

The comeback task became more difficult for Western in the 58th minute, when Byrd found Faith Gaudy in quick transition as Gaudy rocketed a shot from the top, left corner of the box toward the top, right corner of the goal. Blick got a few fingers on the shot, but it cleared her gloves for a 2-0 CCU lead.

It didn't take long for Western to push back, though, as Welsh lined up a free kick from 30 yards out in the 64th. Her shot cleared the leaping five-player wall in front of her and skidded inside the left post past CCU keeper Kenzie Kunitz to halve the deficit.

The Mountaineers were able to get off four more shots over the final 26 minutes, the last two making Kunitz keep the attempts from an equalizing goal, but were unable to pull even in ending a two-game win streak.

Notes

CCU finished with a narrow 16-15 edge in total shots and an 11-9 advantage in shots on goal.

The physical game included 17 fouls whistled on CCU to one on Western, and four yellow cards issued to Cougars against three Mountaineer yellow cards.

Blick made nine saves in the game while Kunitz earned the victory in between the pipes for CCU with seven saves.

Playoff implications

Western entered the game in sole possession of eighth place for the eight-team RMAC playoffs, but the loss pulled CCU even with Western — each team with 13 points — with the Cougars now owning the tiebreaker over the Mountaineers.

Both teams could leapfrog seventh-place Westminster University (15 points, playing later Sunday afternoon) with wins in their final games of the regular season in three days.

For Western to climb into seventh place, both Westminster and CCU would have to lose Wednesday, while the Mountaineers would need to defeat host Fort Lewis College, which has already clinched a spot in the playoffs.

Up next

The Mountaineers travel to Durango, Colo., to take on Fort Lewis with a spot in the RMAC playoffs on the line for Western.