Wyoming travels east for a trio of road matches
LARAMIE -- The University of Wyoming soccer team takes to the road for the first time during the regular season. The unbeaten Cowgirls, sitting at 3-0-0, head east for a few games in the Northern Plains and Great Lakes Region.
The road trip begins with a game at North Dakota State on Thursday at 5 p.m. It finishes up with a road match at Minnesota on Sunday at 12 p.m. before a game at St. Thomas on Tuesday at 3 p.m.
“The most challenging part is the physicality and how taxing it is on your body to play that many matches, at a high level, in that short a time frame,” head coach Colleen Corbin said. “We are going to be relying on our ability to really just hone in and focus in on what we need to accomplish as a program from each match and not let any other distractions get in the way of that.”
The Cowgirls have already accomplished quite a bit during the early stages of this season. Wyoming has come from behind in a pair of games and tallied eight goals in all, as six different players have found the back of the net.
Junior forward Faith Joiner leads the way with two goals. Redshirt junior midfielder Jamie Tatum, sophomore forwards Alyssa Bedard and Nikayla Copenhaver, freshmen forward Maddi Chance and freshmen defender Eliza-Grace Smith have all registered one score this season.
“The fact that we are so dangerous from so many different people, I think speaks really well to the style that we are playing,” Corbin said. “The game plan is not to get the ball to one or two people, the goal is to constantly create space to allow people to be themselves and to be dangerous and attack the space they’re given.”
Redshirt-junior goalkeeper Alex Daws makes all those goals stand up. She has only surrendered two goals, has seven saves and holds a GAA of 0.67.
North Dakota State enters with an 0-4-0 record. The Bison have struggled offensively this fall, being outscored 12-1.
Lavin Douglass lays claim to NDSU’s lone goal. Abby Wilkinson has started three of the four games in net, allowing nine goals.
Minnesota has a 2-0-1 record with an opening-season win over Baylor. The Gophers also have a game Thursday, as they play host to Mississippi State.
Sophia Boman and Delaney Stekr have accounted for Minnesota’s scores this season, tallying one goal apiece. Megan Plaschko has made both starts in goal and recorded six saves and has let to allow a goal.
St. Thomas is in its first year as a Division I program and owns a 1-0-1 record. The Tommies travel to UW-Green Bay on Thursday before going to Drake on Sunday.
Lexi Huber and Lexi Serreyn have one goal apiece to lead St. Thomas. Olivia Graupmann has started both games in net, logging nine saves, and hasn’t yielded a goal.
“At the end of the day, this is a business trip,” Corbin said. “We have a job to do and my expectation is that they focus one match at a time and try and keep things in perspective.”
* University of Wyoming press release
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