The women’s soccer game overcame two tough, early losses to earn their first win of the season Friday as the Colorado School of Mines beat Texas Woman’s University 2-0.Most of the game was dominated by strong defensive performances on both sides. It was not until late in the first half in the forty-first minute that CSM junior Joanna Graves broke the scoreless tie. Teammate Megan Woodworth fired a well-placed corner kick into the box, where Graves caught the ball in midair with her foot and sent it home. It was Graves’s first goal of the 2010 season.
Mines (1-1-1) held the lead heading into the break, but strong defense had very much kept Texas Woman’s (0-3-0) within striking distance. But the Pioneers couldn’t solve the Oredigger defense, and allowed senior goalkeeper Briana Shulze to pick up her first shutout of the season. Shulze has now amassed 25 shutouts throughout her career at Mines, as she has been a strong backbone for this women’s team. Since her arrival as a freshman, Shulze has started all of CSM’s games in the past four years.
Coach Kevin Fickes, in his first year as the women’s head coach, was pleased with how his team rebounded. “It was a huge win… we’ve had a couple of heartbreaking double overtimes that we thought we should have won. But, we came out and played real well today.”
Mines looked strong throughout the game and controlled the ball on both ends for the majority of play. And they built on their 1-0 lead in the sixty-first minute as freshman Anna Evans flew by the defense to beat Pioneer goalkeeper Nori Morgan on the far side for her first career goal. “That goal was great for her,” her coach said. “She had a couple chances in the first two games that just missed, so this was a great way to get her started.”
Coach Fickes was particularly impressed with the solid play of his goalkeeper. “Bri [Shulze] played fantasticly. This was a game where she took care of what she had to.” And he acknowledged the strong showing from the entire team as well, saying that, “She had good help from Jess [Stark] and sophomore Dani Hering. And you know, we had a bunch of contributors, it is difficult to just pick one person out.”
Evans led Mines in shots on goal with 5 and Woodworth added 3 as the Orediggers dominated the Pioneers in shots on goal, 10-1. The loss is the third straight for Texas Woman’s University as they continue their Colorado road trip against Colorado Christian.
Mines looks ahead to their next game as they host Montana State-Billings in Golden September 12, and look to build on some of the momentum from Friday’s win. “I just want to play well,” Coach Fickes commented, “well enough to stay competitive to give a chance in the end.”
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