The Colorado College women's soccer team kicks off its 11-game Mountain West schedule with a home game at Stewart Field and a road contest in California. The Tigers play host to Fresno State on Friday, Sept. 24, at 7 p.m., then fly to the Bay Area to face San Jose State two days later for a noon PT kickoff.
Fans can watch the game and follow live stats via links on the women's soccer schedule on CCTigers.com.
Colorado College takes a 1-6-0 record into Friday's encounter with the Bulldogs after defeating Southern Utah University, 1-0 in overtime, last Sunday. The Tigers are 1-2-0 at home season and 0-4-0 on the road, including a neutral-site game against the University of Colorado in Denver as part of the Colorado Cup.
Fresno State is 2-3-2 overall and 1-3-0 away from home after playing to a 1-1 draw at Sacramento State last Sunday. San Jose State takes a 3-5-0 overall record and a 2-2-0 mark at home into Friday's game at Air Force. Last Sunday, the Spartans dropped a 2-0 result against the University of the Pacific in San Jose.
Fresno State holds a 4-2-1 lead in the all-time series against Colorado College, which began with a 1-1 draw in a non-conference meeting in 2011. The Bulldogs have never lost in Colorado Springs, posting three 1-0 victories in conference games, the last of which was in 2019 on Washburn Field. Two days earlier on Sept. 27, 2019, the Tigers earned their first-ever victory over SJSU with a 1-0 win under the Washburn Field lights. The Spartans lead the all-time series 5-1-0, all of which were conference contests.
Colorado College averaged 0.43 goals and conceded 1.86 during its seven-game non-conference schedule. Sophomore forward
Lily Byrne leads the Tigers with two goals and four points, while senior forward
Kiley Suter is second with a goal and two points. Senior forward
Jacqui Hand and freshman midfielder
Kaelin Enga each have an assist. Sophomore forward
Haley Harnisch leads the Tigers with 14 shots and eight shots on goal.
Goalkeeper
Taryn Benham (Omaha, NE), a graduate transfer from Northern Arizona University, has played in all seven games, including six as the starter, and owns a 1-5-0 record, a 1.47 goals-against average, a .565 saves percentage.
When Suter and Hand linked up for the game-winning goal against Southern Utah, it marked the sixth time that both players combined on a game winner during their careers. The first five times, it was Suter setting up Hand for a deciding goal. Sunday's goal also was the 11th time they factored on the same goal, but just the second time it was Hand setting up a goal by Suter. Hand leads the current Tigers with seven game winners, while Suter has five, two of which were Golden Goals. Suter also is the team's active leader seven career game-winning assists.
Fresno State scores an average of 1.14 goals per game while allowing 1.29. Sophomore forward Kassandra Ceja leads the Bulldogs with three goals and seven points, while freshman midfielders Sam Tristan and Jaylyn Wright each have three points with a goal and an assist. Freshman goalkeeper Ella Wilson has a 1-2-2 record, a 0.95 GAA and a .737 saves percentage, while junior Valentina Vivas is 1-1-0 with a 1.95 GAA and a .769 saves ratio.
San Jose State scores an average of 0.75 goals per game and concedes 2.00. Freshman midfielder Taylor Phillips leads the Spartans with three points and is one of five players with a goal. Freshman goalkeeper Autum Monty has started six games for SJSU and owns a 1-4-0 record, a 2.22 GAA and a .643 saves percentage. Freshman Shayla Sugai has started a pair of games and played in a total of five, posting a 2-1-0 record, a 1.71 GAA and a .750 saves percentage.
Coming off of a strong performance during the spring season during which Colorado College posted a 4-2-2 record, the Tigers were picked to finish sixth out of 12 teams in the conference table in the annual preseason ballot of the league's head coaches. The University of New Mexico led the way with 118 points and received nine first-place votes, while San Diego State was second with 111 points and was first on the other three ballots. Boise State was third with 93 points, followed by Fresno State (90) UNLV (77) and CC (65). The second six teams consisted of Utah State (63), San Jose State (54), Colorado State (52), Wyoming (31), Air Force (23) and Nevada (15).
Next week, Colorado College returns home to host the University of Nevada on Friday, Oct. 1, at 7 p.m. MT, and UNLV on Sunday, Oct. 3, at 1:30 p.m. MT. The following week, CC embarks on its first two-game road trip of the season when the Tigers trek north to visit Colorado State University and the University of Wyoming on Oct. 8 and 10, respectively.
