After such a promising season opener less than 48 hours earlier, Colorado College took a step in the wrong direction on Sunday. 

Victimized by a couple of key defensive lapses and squandering several excellent scoring opportunities of their own, the Tigers suffered a 3-1 setback to Boise State University at Stewart Field. 

CC, which plays its next four matches on the road, dropped to 1-1 with the loss despite out-shooting the visiting Broncos by a 22-14 margin. Its only goal came on a penalty kick by senior Tiffany Brown with 9:31 left to play after BSU had built a 3-0 lead on tallies by Gabby Garcia, Tylyn Hughes and Katy Oehring. 

“What it comes down to is poor execution,” said Bennett. “We had two or three breakaways and countless chances across the six. We gave up some soft goals, but kudos to Boise State. Not many teams come in here and beat us, much less put three on the board.”

The defeat snapped an eight-game unbeaten streak (7-0-1) at home, dating back to Sept. 20 of last year.

BSU keeper Lix Ruiz turned in a strong performance in goal, finishing with 13 saves including nine in the second half when the Tigers tested her on 10 occasions. Freshmen Lauren DiGregorio and Lynn Froetscher, who teamed up to produce the game-winning goal in Friday's 1-0 overtime victory against the University of Dayton, both soloed in alone from the right side before Brown finally averted a shutout at 80:29. But Ruiz effectively cut down the angle both times to preserve a 3-0 lead. Earlier, she also robbed DiGregorio on a close-in header from the left side.

Garcia and Hughes struck less than three minutes apart late in the first half to put Boise State up, 2-0. Garcia opened the scoring at 38:27, getting high in the air deep in the box to head in a loose ball floating near the goal line. Hughes converted from 28 yards out, with her back to the net, lofting a high shot that got over the outstretched arms of leaping CC keeper Caitlin Hulyo at 41:15.

When Erica Parks set up Oehring in alone on Hulyo just 53 seconds after intermission, the Tigers found themselves in a hole they could not dig out of.

“Hopefully this is a learning moment for our young team,” Bennett said. “We've talked to them about how they can't be looking at the big picture right now, but need to be improving one game at a time. The kids obviously didn't do that today, so hopefully it's a learning experience.”