In a game that took extra-time to determine a winner, Julia Saenz had the game-winning goal in overtime as the University of Colorado Colorado Springs beat Fort Hays State University 2-1 Sunday afternoon at Mountain Lion Stadium.   

Prior to the quick strike in overtime, goals proved tough to come by in this physically-played contest.

With the first-half winding down, a pair of freshmen Mountain Lions managed to strike first blood when a beautiful corner kick from Alexis Michaelkovich found the head of Hannah Levett during the 39th minute.

Playing with a lead was short lived for UCCS however, as Tiger player Rachel Wiesen capitalized on a ball deflected off Mountain Lions keeper Kelly Schroeder in the 55th minute. Schroeder, who played well in net with seven saves, made the initial stop on a shot from Cindy Benitez but could not corral the ball leading to the easy tap in by Wiesen.

As the second-half ended with the scored knotted at 1-1 it took less than two minutes into the overtime period for UCCS to find its second goal of the day. The game winner came when Levett sent a cross into the Fort Hays box that got knocked near Saenz who found the top of the net for the first time this season in the 92nd minute.

The assist was Levett's second on the season, who's play off the bench leads all UCCS' substitutes in points this season with four.

"Today's game was a great learning lesson for us. I think Fort Hays came out with a strong side and played as aggressive as we did and that was the first time we ran into that this season," said UCCS coach Nichole Ridenour.

With the victory UCCS now owns a 2-3-3 record all-time in overtime games and improved to 3-0 on the season heading into conference play.

"These series of games (non-conference) did wonderful things for us in teaching us how to be a team and teaching us how to lead on the field without the coaches yelling," said Ridenour.

"They have to help each other out and lead on the field and communicate on the field. Without these games we wouldn't have been able to work that out so now we're definitely feeling much more ready for conference and much more ready for the RMAC and the level that the RMAC is playing at."

The Mountain Lions look like a team to be reckoned when conference play begins next week against RMAC foe Colorado School of Mines at 2:30 p.m. Sept. 18 in Golden, Colo.