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Fresh off a pair of convincing victories during the opening week of the 2019 season, the Colorado College women's soccer team looks to continue its winning ways when the Tigers play host to Saint Francis University in the first-ever meeting between the programs on Sunday, Sept. 1, at Washburn Field.
CC enters Sunday's contest with a 2-0-0 record after defeating Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, 2-1, in its season opener last Friday, then posting a 3-1 win over Siena College two days later.
Saint Francis takes a 0-0-1 record into Friday night's match at Air Force after battling to a 2-2 draw at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, on Aug. 25. SFU's season opener at Loyola University Maryland on Aug. 22 was cancelled due to thunderstorms.
Colorado College averages 2.50 goals per game and allows 1.0. Sophomore forward
Jacqui Hand leads the Tigers with two goals and shares the team lead of four points with junior midfielder
Jenna Wilt, who owns a goal and a pair of assists. Sophomore forward
Kiley Suter has a team-best three assists and is third with three points.
Senior
Molly Hiniker has a 1-0-0 record, along with a 1.0 goals-against average and a .750 saves percentage. Freshman
Abby Opperman, who played the first 45 minutes in the season opener, also is 1-0-0 and owns a 0.00 GAA and 1.000 saves percentage.
Five members of CC's 2019 recruiting class earned playing time during the first two games of the season. Defender
Alexa Porter became the first newcomer to earn a point when she recorded an assist on Wilt's goal against Siena. Midfielder
Hailee Rasmussen started both games and led the way with 128 minutes, while Porter and Opperman earned one start apiece. Forwards
Jordan Darrow and
Adelaide Gaffney appeared in both games, while defender
Josie Morales played in one.
After only one game, Saint Francis scored and conceded two goals. Junior midfielder Mariana Jaleca, a native of Portugal, accounted for both goals in the 2-2 draw at UMBC, while junior midfielder Emilee Barnett set up one of the scores. The Red Flash is expecting offensive production from senior forward Alyssa McGhee, who tied for the team lead with 18 points and was second with six goals in 2018. She also produced team bests with six assists and four game-winning goals. Senior goalkeeper Julia Herman posted an 8-7-3 record, a 1.64 GAA and a .750 saves percentage last season. Â Â Â
Colorado College is 10-1-1 in its last 12 games at Washburn Field, the program's home away from home. Since splitting a pair of Conference USA games against UTEP in 2009 and 2010, the Tigers are undefeated in their last 10 contests (9-0-1) on Washburn.
Regardless of whether CC plays on Stewart Field or Washburn Field, the Tigers have enjoyed a significant advantage when playing at an elevation of 6,035 feet. Including its 2-0-0 record at home season, Colorado College now is 258-59-28 (.788) in 345 all-time matches on its own campus. That includes a 98-30-15 mark (.738) at the two venues during Bennett's 16-year reign as head coach.
The Tigers wrap up the first of two five-match home stands with its first-ever encounter against Western Michigan University, on Friday, Sept. 6, and a Sunday dust-up with Army West Point. The following week, CC hits the road for the first time when they travel to Urbana-Champaign, Ill., to face the University of Illinois on Sunday, Sept. 15.
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