Despite a 1-0 loss to Air Force in the inaugural City for Champions Cup Thursday night at Weidner Field, Colorado College earned a bid to the Mountain West Women's Soccer Championship for the first time since 2018.
 
The Tigers, who grabbed the sixth and final spot in the tournament after being selected 11^th in the MW preseason poll, will compete in the postseason for the third time since joining the Mountain West as an affiliate member in 2014. They are scheduled to face No. 3-seeded San Jose State on Sunday, Oct. 30, in Albuquerque, N.M., beginning at 7 p.m.
 
San Jose State tied for the regular-season title with Wyoming and New Mexico, but is the No. 3 seed due to tiebreakers. Top-seeded Wyoming and No. 2 New Mexico each earned a bye to the semifinals.
 
On Thursday, Caeli Sherman scored the game's only goal in the sixth minute to lead the Falcons to the victory in front of 824 fans at the home of the Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC.
 
Sherman collected the ball and fired a shot from 25 yards out that went just over the outstretched arms of CC goalkeeper Ally Wakeman.
 
Wakeman was solid the remainder of the game, stopping the other six shots on goal from the Falcons. Her teammates, however, could muster just three shots on target in the 90 minutes, two by Lily Byrne and one by Kaelin Woodruff.
 
Faith Lee led all players with three shots on goal, while Air Force held a 13-12 advantage in total shots. The Tigers had six corner kicks, compared to five for the Falcons.