Courtesy of Colorado State Athletics
SAN DIEGO – Postseason play marks a new challenge, and Colorado State rose to the occasion. Off an unsettling end to the regular season falling to the no. 3 seed in the Mountain West Championship Tournament, the Rams were able to step up Sunday night dominating Nevada 4-1. The win sets up a rematch of last year’s title game against Utah State on Wednesday, November 6 at 5 p.m. MT
Mia Casey did Mia Casey things for the Rams scoring a pair of goals as the Rams controlled the first 45 minutes of play.
With plenty of opportunities like Avery Vander Ven’s header right on the goal line and Maggie Altman’s breakaway shot just barely shy of the lower right corner, Casey was able to find the back of the net first. Casey, now the leading goal scorer (7) for the team, read her opportunity perfectly.
In the 19th minute, Nevada’s goal kick directly found her feet, while she was able to take it forward.
The story didn’t end there, Bridget Arnold found her first career goal in the 33rd minute off a feed from Katy Coffin. With numbers in Nevada’s box, Arnold was able to make a sliding goal giving the Rams a two-goal advantage.
Two minutes later, Nevada, Trinity Sandridge was able to squeeze the ball through two Ram defenders to get the Wolf Pack on the board. Instead of discouragement, five minutes later freshman Kaja Dionne saw her chance and laid the ball perfectly in the lower corner off a Arnold feed, helping the Rams go into half up 3-1.
Casey closed out the night in the 57th minute finding her seventh goal of the season.
With plenty of offensive success, Libby Brooker had five saves on the night.
This game was a reward, and you could see it from the smile on every single player’s face.
Casey had nothing but good things to say about her team’s performance, “A lot of preparation goes into a match, so it feels good to put all that work in and get something out of it.”
