Kaymarie Jones
The Paw Print
A goal in the last three minutes of overtime by CSU-Pueblo was the difference Friday evening as the No. 10 ranked Adams State University (4-8-2) finished off a tough scrimmage with a hard fought 1-0 loss to No. 8 CSU-Pueblo (5-11-3) inside ASU’s Soccer and Lacrosse Complex.
“I thought we played ok on Friday. I thought we held better possession but we did not finish our chances,” noted head coach Doris Sullivan.
Despite the loss on Friday, the Grizzlies managed to hold off the Thunderwolves for the entire 90 minutes.
Kaylee Smith and first-time captain Michelle Little played very hard between the posts defending the Grizzlies at their first scrimmage of the season.
“It was a good start, a good wakeup call I must say because you never want to lose a game, especially to CSU-Pueblo who is ahead of us in the RMAC polls,” added Little, the senior from Alberta, Canada. “We missed some really good finishing opportunities and we can always improve on possessing the ball but we did a really good job in being aggressive and connecting passes.”
Grizzly sophomore Allie Mercado had the first scoring chance of the evening with the assistant of sophomore Laci Jones. Jones took a pass to the end line and made a superb pass to Mercado, avoiding the CSU-Pueblo defenders. After a couple back and forth passes with #3 Jenezza Sandoval, Mercado hammered a shot towards CSU-Pueblo’s goalkeeper, but the Thunderwolf stood firm, keeping the game deadlocked at zero.
“It was a tough lost to take in but we played very well,” added Little. “I am really proud of the team and how far we’ve come with our new coach and recruits and we can’t wait to show Adams State and the local community what we’re capable of doing.”
A corner from the Grizzlies in the second half also led to a great scoring opportunity for Adams State in the first 20 minutes when Emily Therkildsen sent a blazing kick inside the box which Mercado skillfully aimed at the CSU-Pueblo goal but failed at the attempt.
In overtime, the Grizzlies and the Thunderwolves went toe-to-toe, trying to put one in the basket but senior goalkeeper Christie Stemple did a tremendous job defending the Grizzlies’ net but a shot from CSU-Pueblo ended the battle.
“I thought we had good play out of our senior captains, Kaylee Smith and Michelle Little as well as our senior goalkeeper, Christie Stemple,” said Coach Sullivan.
The Grizzlies will look to improve on their overall record 7-9-2 this season.
“I know that our fitness will continue to improve. Our goal is to make the league tournament which means we need to finish in the top six in the league. If we can do that, anything can happen from there.”
Adams State Women’s Soccer will return to the field for its home opener on Sunday, September 2 against St Edward’s (Texas) at 2:00 p.m. but not before facing their RMAC contenders Western State College in Gunnison. Live stats will be available via asugrizzlies.com, while fans can always receive in-game updates on Twitter @ASUGrizzlies.
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