SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – The No. 25 nationally ranked University of Colorado Colorado Springs men's soccer team escaped Salt Lake City with a 2-1 victory over Westminster University on Wednesday evening as they benefited from a tie-breaking own goal committed by the Griffins in the late minutes of the match.  

INSIDE THE MATCHUP
Final: #25 UCCS 2, WU 1
Records: UCCS (4-1-2, 0-0-0 RMAC), WU (2-3-2, 0-0-0 RMAC)
Facility: WU Dumke Field | Salt Lake City, Utah
All-Time Series: The Mountain Lions improve to 14-9 all-time against the Griffins.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• The Mountain Lions wasted little time making their way on the scoreboard on Wednesday evening at Dumke field as graduate student Marvin Putu managed to punch the ball away from a Westminster defender in the middle of the penalty box to a wide-open Alex Andersson, who easily fired the ball into the right side of the frame for a 1-0 lead in the fourth minute.
• Following the early goal by UCCS, the Griffins were able to reset and control possession for much of the ensuing 20 minutes of play. In the 25^th minute, Westminster finally broke through with an equalizer as Jace Vance broke the ball free from UCCS defender Matteo Moreno Madrid and threaded a pass back to Armin Hasonovic, who fired a right-footed strike just past the outstretched arms of a diving Declan Domyan to even the game at one.
• UCCS found themselves with multiple promising scoring opportunities in the 38^th minute when Kolby Raineri was fouled inside the penalty box by Westminster's Brayden Reid, giving the Mountain Lions a chance for a penalty kick. Putu would line up to take the PK and fired a bending left-footed shot towards the right side of the frame, but WU goalkeeper Roark Looney guessed correctly on his dive and saved the shot. On the ensuing corner kick, the ball was sent out of bounds off the head of a Westminster defender, resulting in a throw in deep in the Mountain Lion attacking area. The throw in would be sent back into the box where Putu headed it towards the net, but it was deflected and saved once again by Looney. Off the deflection, UCCS had one final opportunity with sophomore Miles Seminario collecting the ball and nudging it off the right post, but it eventually found its way out the back line as the Griffins managed to weather the attack and maintain the 1-1 tie.
• The opening 30 minutes of action in the second half of the match saw the Mountain Lions largely dominate possession of the ball, but the team managed just three shots in that span with the Westminster defense doing well to maintain the even score.
• In the 83^rd minute, the Westminster defense that had been playing well since the early minutes of the match committed a game-changing gaffe as Jace Vance mistakenly headed the ball from nearly 30 yards out into his own net for an own goal that gave UCCS a 2-1 advantage with less than eight minutes left on the clock.
• Cole Van Holland, Rory Scott and the rest of the UCCS defense would hold strong down the stretch to preserve their fortunate one-goal lead as the Mountain Lions escaped Salt Lake City with a 2-1 victory.  

STATS FROM THE GAME

• Andersson knocked in his team-leading fifth goal of the season in the fourth minute as he also tied for the team lead with two shots across 79 minutes of action.
• Putu appeared on the pitch for 52 minutes on Wednesday evening and matched Andersson with two shots of his own, landing both on target.
• As a team, the Mountain Lions outshot the Griffins 8-7 and held a more distinct advantage in shots on goal at 5-2.
• Three different Mountain Lion defenders played the full 90 minutes, including Scott, Van Holland, and Bogdan Vedernikov.
• Domyan made his first start of the season in frame for UCCS, notching a full 90-minute performance, allowing just one goal while grabbing a single save on eight shots faced.

BEYOND THE BOX SCORE

• With tonight's goal, Andersson now has 21 in his career which moves him into a tie for tenth place all-time in program history for the category. The Helsingborg, Sweden, native has also now recorded 49 points in his career, which sits just two away from breaking into the top-ten in program history.  

UP NEXT

• The Mountain Lions will return to Colorado Springs to kick off a three-game homestand beginning with their final non-conference game of the season on Sunday, Sept. 24, against No. 3 nationally ranked Colorado State University Pueblo. UCCS will then open their RMAC slate next week with home matchups against Colorado School of Mines on Thursday, Sept. 28, and Metropolitan State University Denver on Sunday, Oct. 1.

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As a member of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference, the University of Colorado Colorado Springs competes in 14 varsity sports in NCAA Division II intercollegiate athletics. 
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