This Week's Matchup
The University of Colorado Colorado Springs women's soccer team is scheduled to return home to Mountain Lion Stadium on Friday, Oct. 1 after playing six road games in three states over a 26-day period. The Mountain Lions will play host to Westminster College Friday morning at 11 a.m. for Storm the Stadium then turn around to host Colorado Mesa University on Sunday, Oct. 3 for a 12 p.m. match. Friday's Storm the Stadium match will feature 100 free t-shirts for the first 100 UCCS Students that attend the game.
 
Game Coverage
Live Stream vs. Westminster
Live Stream vs. Colorado Mesa
Live Stats 
 
Last Time Out

• UCCS couldn't have asked for a better start to the conference portion of their schedule with the Mountain Lions blanking Western Colorado University 4-0 on Thursday and topping the Skyhawks of Fort Lewis College 4-1 on Sunday.
• In their third consecutive road sweep of the season, the Mountain Lions were equally impressive on both sides of the ball by outscoring the opposition 8-1 and outshooting them at an astounding 56-8, of which included a shutout victory over the Mountaineers where WCU only got off two shots and one shot on goal.
• Seven different Mountain Lions combined for the eight scores last week as freshman Jadyn LeDoux led UCCS with two goals and an assist. Tarah Patterson had the second most points with four after notching a goal and two assists as she became the program's all-time goals leader with her 30^th career goal against FLC.

RMAC Record/Standings

• The Mountain Lions move to a 7-1 overall record on the year and currently hold a six-game win streak as they stand atop the RMAC standings with an undefeated conference record of 2-0.
• Westminster is the lone undefeated team in the conference at 4-0-1 overall and 1-0 RMAC record.
• Colorado School of Mines (5-1-2), Regis University (5-2), and Colorado State University Pueblo (3-4) all join UCCS as the only schools to start conference play 2-0.

National Rankings

• The newly ranked Mountain Lions have slid up into the top-5 for the first time since 2019 after jumping up 20 spots in the last three weeks to receive the No. 5 ranking in the country.

The Series

• The Mountain Lions and Westminster College Griffins have faced off a total of nine times dating back to October of 2015. In that span, UCCS holds the advantage at a 6-2-1 record with their most recent matchup being played on April 23, 2021 where the Griffins defeated UCCS 2-1 in the RMAC Semifinal.
• CMU leads the 16-game series against UCCS with an 8-6-2 record as the Mountain Lions have strung together a four-game win streak against the Mavericks. In those four wins, UCCS has not surrendered a single goal as they've outscored CMU, 15-0.

Scouting Westminster

• The last remaining undefeated team in the RMAC, Westminster is set to play their second conference game of the season after recording a close 1-0 win over Metropolitan State University of Denver on Thursday.
• The Griffins have not scored more than two goals in a single game this season with the defense only giving up one score in five games for a conference low GAA of 0.19.
• RMAC Goalkeeper of the Week Kelsea Cracroft has been impressive in frame with no goals allowed in five starts as she's posted a 4-0 record with two shutouts, two combined shutouts, and seven saves off 21 shots faced in 325 minutes. Sophomore Naomi Kehl has also played in three games for the Griffins and has allowed one goal in 145 minutes in frame with five save on the year.
• Offensively, WC is averaging 1.20 goals per game with forward Aimee Kurfurst, midfielder Alexa Maple, and forward/midfielder Rebecca Wheeler tied for a team leading four points. Kurfurst leads the team in goals (2) while Wheeler has recorded a team high four assists.

Scouting Colorado Mesa

• The Mavericks (4-1, 1-0 RMAC) have played two matches that went extra minutes this season. One of which included a 3-2 OT win over then No. 10 Northwest Nazarene University. CMU has outscored their opponents 13-6 for a 2.60 goals per game average.
• Redshirt freshman Lila Dere has paced the Mavericks this season by leading the team and ranking second in the conference with five goals. She has also tallied an assist to total 11 points on the year.
• Redshirt freshman Chloe Dody has been the starter in frame for CMU by staring all five games and holding a 1.02 GAA. Dody has allowed five goals and has recorded a .722 save percentage with 13 saves off 44 shots faced while also adding a shutout against Texas Permian Basin.

Hot Takes

• UCCS' all-time goal scorer Tarah Patterson and freshman Jadyn Ledoux have each netted a team high four goals this season with Patterson tacking on five assists for a team leading 13 points.
• LeDoux is second with nine points scored so far through eight games as three additional Mountain Lions have notched seven points. Fie Steenberg and Tori Maydew each have two goals and three assists as Makayla Merlo has fired off three goals and one assist for each of their seven points.
• UCCS moves into their second week of conference play with a six-game win streak as the Mountain Lions have netted three or more goals in seven of their eight matches to average an impressive 3.0 goals per game to outscore opponents, 24-8.
• As the number five team in the country, the Mountain Lions are nearly tripling their opponents' shots (143-56) while also holding the opposition to an average of seven shots per game as they have registered three shutouts on the season.
• On a national scale, UCCS ranks top-25 in scoring offense (17th/3.00), total assists (T-6th/19), total goals (T-8th/24), and total points (8th/67).
• Chloe DeShazer continues to be a force in frame at a 7-1 record as the Kansas City, Mo. native owns a sub 1.00 GAA of .71. DeShazer has faced 43 shots and bagged 13 saves for a .722 save percentage as she's helped garner three shutouts.
• Head coach J. B. Belzer enters the matches against WC and CMU with winning records over both teams. Belzer has coached against CMU in 50 games where he holds a stellar 35-10-5 record. But Belzer's all-time series against Westminster is much smaller as he posts a 5-3-2 record versus the Griffins.

Weather

• Fall is in the air and it will reflect in Friday's and Sunday's forecasts.
• For Friday, the forecast calls for mostly cloudy skies with a high of 59 degrees and slight chance of a rain shower. Winds will most likely reach 10 to 15 miles-per-hour.
• Sunday's forecast will be a bit warmer with a high of 69 degrees and mostly sunny as gusts could reach five to 10 miles-per-hour.

Award Winners

• Redshirt junior Katie Puchino nabs her second RMAC Defensive Player of the Week honor of the season.
• Puchino helped the UCCS defense hold the opposition to just eight shots between both games as the Mountain Lions shutout WCU 4-0 and held the Mountaineers to a season low two shots and one shot on goal. In 127 minutes played, Puchino also added to her offensive stats by making her one shot and one shot on goal count by netting her first goal of the season against WCU on Thursday.

UCCS Under Head Coach J. B. Belzer

• Head coach J. B. Belzer enters his second season at the helm for UCCS and 26^th total season as a Division II head coach after spending 24 seasons at Regis University.
• Belzer holds a 331-148-37 record for the seventh most wins in NCAA Division II Women's Soccer history.

• Last season Belzer received his seventh career RMAC Coach of the Year honor as he coached six All-RMAC selections, including Tarah Patterson who was voted RMAC Player of the Year and RMAC Academic Co-Player of the Year.

Upcoming Games

• No. 5 UCCS will remain at home next week to host Metropolitan State University of Denver for a 6:30 p.m. game under the lights on Thursday, Oct. 7. On Sunday, Black Hills State University will visit Mountain Lion Stadium as the Mountain Lions and Yellowjackets face off at 1 p.m.

 
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As a member of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference, the University of Colorado Colorado Springs competes in 16 varsity sports in NCAA Division II intercollegiate athletics.