Women's Soccer Season Recap

• The 2022 UCCS Women's Soccer Team posted another strong season as the Mountain Lions notched a 14-4-4 overall record and 9-1-2 conference record within the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC). The season didn't start out the way the Mountain Lions would have liked as they held a 5-2-2 through the first half of the season with losses to No. 3 Dallas Baptist University and Westminster College. But UCCS turned it up in the final nine games of the regular season by going on a nine-game unbeaten streak that included a 7-0-2 record, six clean sheets, while outscoring the opposition 32-5.
• UCCS entered the RMAC Tournament as the No. 2 seed where the Mountain Lions defeated Fort Lewis College 2-1 in the quarterfinals before falling to Regis University in an overtime semifinal matchup, 3-2.
• The Mountain Lions managed to continue their postseason hopes alive by snagging the No. 6 seed in the NCAA Regional Tournament as they proceeded to open the national tournament play with a 3-1 statement win over No. 3 seed Angelo State University in overtime. UCCS advanced to the second round where the Mountain Lions matched up with No. 9 nationally ranked Colorado School of Mines in Golden, Colo. and nearly pulled away with the upset after falling 2-1.

 
Award Winners
The stellar 2022 season came with an abundance of awards as 14 student-athletes combined for a total of 38 awards.

• Abby Barhydt: CSC Academic All-America Third Team, CSC Academic All-District First Team, RMAC All-Academic First Team
• Fabiola Estrada: RMAC All-Academic Honor Roll, RMAC Defensive Player of the Week (Sep. 20)
• Makenna Fowler: CSC Academic All-District First Team, All-RMAC First Team, RMAC All-Academic Honor Roll
• Kaitlin Hinkle: All-RMAC Second Team, RMAC All-Academic Honor Roll, RMAC All-Tournament Team
• Jade Kinsey: RMAC All-Academic Honor Roll
• Sydney Lasater: CSC Academic All-District First Team, RMAC All-Academic Honor Roll
• Jadyn LeDoux: RMAC Offensive Player of the Week (Oct. 4)
• Annie Louthan: United Soccer Coaches All-South Central Region First Team, All-RMAC Second Team
• Leikela Lunt: RMAC All-Academic Honor Roll
• Makayla Merlo: United Soccer Coaches All-South Central Region Second Team, D2CCA All-South Central Region Second Team, CSC Academic All-District First Team, All-RMAC First Team, RMAC All-Academic Honor Roll
• Zoe Sims: CSC Academic All-District First Team, All-RMAC Second Team, RMAC All-Academic Honor Roll, RMAC Defensive Player of the Week (Oct. 27)
• Fie Steenberg: RMAC All-Academic Honor Roll
• Kelsey Takahashi: RMAC All-Academic Honor Roll
• Alexis Walker: CSC Academic All-America Third Team, United Soccer Coaches All-South Central Region First Team, CSC Academic All-District First Team, RMAC Goalkeeper of the Year, All-RMAC First Team, RMAC All-Academic Honor Roll, RMAC Goalkeeper of the Week (Oct. 27, Oct. 18, Sep. 20)

 
Statistical Leaders

• Offensively, a total of 16 Mountain Lions found the back of the net this season to help rank UCCS as the 15^th highest scoring offense in NCAA Division II by averaging 2.59 goals per game. As a team, UCCS notched the sixth most assists (48) and ninth most goals (57) in DII, as well as the eighth most points in the nation (162).
• Forwards Kaitlin Hinkle and Jadyn LeDoux were the leading point scorers for the Mountain Lions in 2022 as they each netted seven goals and registered five assists for a total of 19 points, tying for the sixth most points in the conference.  
• Hinkle (one) and LeDoux (two) combined for three-game-winning goals as sophomore Sydney Lasater recorded a team-high three-game-winning goals while totaling five goals and the RMAC's third most assists (eight) for 18 points. Lasater also adds 26 shots on goal for the season, tying with her high school teammate LeDoux for the team's most.
• Tallying up a team-high 57 shots for the third most in the RMAC is redshirt sophomore Makayla Merlo who joined in on the scoring by adding 15 points of her own on five goals and five assists.
• UCCS had a total of five Mountain Lions rank inside the top-10 for total assists in 2022 with Lasater, Fabiola Estrada (six, sixth), Abby Barhydt (five, tied seventh), Hinkle (tied seventh), LeDoux (tied seventh), and Merlo (tied seventh) all landing their names on the RMAC Leaderboard.
• Merlo is also one of five Mountain Lions to play and start in all of UCCS' 22 games this season with Alexis Walker (2,020 min.), Annie Louthan (1,860 min.), Zoe Sims (1,837 min.), Jade Kinsey (1,833 min.), and Merlo (1,800 min.) all logging 1,800 minutes or more.
• Defensively, the Mountain Lions registered the RMAC's third most shutouts with 11 which helped bolster a goals against average of .86 for the league's third lowest GAA as UCCS also allowed just 8.9 shots per game.
• Holder of the second most goalie minutes recorded in all Division II, Walker played every minute in frame to own all 11 shutouts while registering the third-best GAA (.85), seventh highest save percentage (.763), and most shutouts in the RMAC.

 
Hot Takes

• For the sixth straight season, the Mountain Lions have advanced to the RMAC Semifinals with UCCS also notching five consecutive appearances in the NCAA Tournament.
• UCCS' 2022 overall record of 14-4-4 resulted in a winning percentage of .833 which sits as the fourth -best win-loss percentage in program history.
• Behind the numbers, the Mountain Lions put up a top-5 season in program history by tying for the third most points (163), fourth most goals (57), third most assists (49), fourth most shots (403), tying for the third most shots on goal (187), fifth lowest GAA (.86), and tying for the most shutouts (11).
• The Mountain Lions had a total of seven student-athletes who scored double-digit points this season, totaling the most double-digit scorers in the conference.
• Alexis Walker's 11 shutouts set a new single season program record as the Castle Rock, Colo. native wrapped up her five-year career in the black & gold with program's fourth most saves (102), third lowest all-time GAA (.84), and second most career shutouts (19).
• Kaitlin Hinkle continues to climb the all-time program ranks as she bumps up to third all-time in career points (64) and goals (27), tying for the second most game winning goals (nine), and tying for the 10^th most assists (10). Hinkle also has registered seven braces in her career, accounting for 14 of her 27 goals as a Mountain Lion.
• Sydney Lasater joins Hinkle in what is a six-way tie for the 10^th most assists in program history after Lasater broke the single game record for assists with four against Western Colorado on Sep. 15 of this year.
• Also making their way into the program record book is Jadyn LeDoux and Makayla Merlo who reached 15 career goals in 2022, tying them for the 10^th most all-time.
• Merlo's offensive performance was consistent this season with the redshirt sophomore tallying one or more shots in 21 of 22 of her games played.
• The Mountain Lion defense worked tirelessly in 2022 by limiting opposing offenses to three shots on goal or less in 10 matches this season.
• Additionally, the defense showed their longevity with Makenna Fowler (12), Annie Louthan (12), Makayla Merlo (12), Zoe Sims (13), and Jade Kinsey (14) all registering double-digit games of playing full time.
• The UCCS attack generated a conference-best 138 corner kicks while also holding a positive 1.73 scoring average margin, ranking the second-best behind No.9 nationally ranked Colorado School of Mines.
• Fabiola Estrada was a go-to off the bench for the Mountain Lions and ended her time as a Mountain Lion with a career-year that included all four of her collegiate goals being netted off back-to-back brace performances in 2022. Estrada also recorded a career-best six assists and 14 points as she fired off nine of her 11 shots on frame for a .818 SOG percentage.

 
National Rankings

• The Mountain Lions finished the 2022 season with the No. 22 ranking in United Soccer Coaches' final Division II Women's Soccer National Poll on Dec. 6.
• UCCS was ranked as high as No. 8 for the season as the Mountain Lions landed themselves on the national poll a total of eight different times over the course of the 2022 season.

 
2022 Season Outlook

• Head Coach J. B. Belzer is set to make his return for the 2023 season as he prepares for his fourth season as the Mountain Lions head coach.
• Though the program did not accomplish their goals for the season, Belzer and the Mountain Lions know what needs to be improved and will continue to provide a national quality of play on the pitch.
• "While we did not achieve our stated goals of winning the treble of RMAC regular season, conference tournament, and South-Central region titles, we competed well and I feel we were capable of achieving those goals," stated Belzer. "Clinical, ruthless finishing left us at the wrong moments in a few matches and championship level, defensive resilience was also lacking in two or three key matches this season.  We learned painful lessons that is these small margins that left us second in the RMAC and third in the region rather than being treble champions.  Finishing #22 in the final United Soccer Coaches national poll is reflective of the continued quality of our program on a national scale.  It is also reflective of how coaches saw us as the third best team in the South-Central region as compared to the NCAA selection criteria matrix that had us receiving the sixth and final seed in the NCAA Tournament for our region.

           
            But I know for a fact that the appetite within the remaining group will be that we can return to Seattle for Fall Festival 2022."

• Looking ahead to next season, the hunger to come back and be even better in 2023 is bigger than ever.
• "Our goals of a Treble in 2023 remain unchanged.  We must have new players fill important roles in our goalkeeping and central defender positions, so how that process develops this spring and into preseason next fall will ultimately decide our abilities to compete at the very top of RMAC, South-Central, and DII women's soccer. 

 
            With a challenging non-conference schedule against five schools who competed in the 2022 NCAA Tournament, we will know early next             season where this team stands as we head into crucial RMAC league play by mid-September.Returning an extremely talented midfield and             six of our top seven scorers from our 2022 RMAC leading offense gives us great confidence we can win championships that is our             standard in UCCS women's soccer."
 
 
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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.