DENVER, Colo. – The Regis University men's soccer team took on the Colorado Christian University Cougars in gritty fashion on Wednesday, fighting to the final minutes and coming away with a crucial three points, and 2-1 win.
The Rangers (4-9-2 overall, 2-4-1 RMAC) scored early and fought hard to defend their lead against the Cougars (3-5-6 overall, 1-3-3 RMAC) for the remainder of the match.
"Happy with the three points right now. We talked about the challenge that lies ahead of us right now with the remaining four games and the goal was to take it one game at a time. With the form that CCU is in and the way they play, it's always going to be a difficult battle for us. Overall, I'm really happy with the guys' ability to get the ball in the back of the net and defend the lead for that long period of time in the second half," said Regis head soccer coach, Taylor Diem.
How It Happened: The Rangers snapped their three-game skid thanks to skillful goals from junior forward Rayhan Carlson-Du Toit and graduate student forward Vilhjalmur Kaldal.
Less than six minutes into the game, freshman forward Liam Corr was fouled and took a crucial free kick at the top right of the 18-yard box.
Corr crossed his pass to the far side of the goal to an awaiting Carlson-Du Toit who leapt above a pair of Cougar defenders and headed the ball into the top right of the goal for his fourth of the season.
"That was massive," said Diem. "Looking back at the last two or three games, we probably haven't finished our chances as much as we would've liked to so of course, when you're able to score early and kind of put the opponents on the back foot, it gives us the advantage."
Kaldal's goal was just as impressive as senior defender Kyle Bergmeier was able to take the ball away from CCU and put it forward towards the goal.
Carlson-Du Toit took over, danced between a few Cougars, and sent the ball into the air where Kaldal was able to head his own into the back of the net in the 23rd minute.
"Kyle did a great job getting the first ball that came out of the air and found Ray running behind and Ray served it to Villy. I'm really happy with it, it's a great counter-attacking goal and it's great quality from those two players," said Diem.
The Cougars were trying to mount a comeback that began with a goal in the 61st minute and 11 total shots in the second half, but both the Rangers defense and sophomore goalkeeper Cristian Sattin were having no part in it.
Nine of the Cougars' shots completely missed and the two that were anywhere near the net, Sattin was quick to cover.
"In pregame, we talked about how direct CCU can be sometimes and there were times where we didn't raise our lines enough and that invited more balls into our back line," said Diem. "We probably gave up a few more corner kicks than I would've liked in the last 15 minutes, but ultimately the boys handled it really well and defended the 18-yard box and got out of there with the three points."
Game Notes:
Up Next: The Rangers travel to Rapid City, South Dakota to take on the South Dakota School of Mines on Sunday. Kickoff is set for 11:00 AM.
"It's a massive game for us. You look at the next three games and they're all must-win games to hopefully put us in the position of qualifying for a conference tournament berth," said Diem. "South Dakota has made things difficult for some teams and we'll have to be on it and make sure we take care of our job. I'm confident in the boys that if we go into this with the right mentality then we can get that result and take that win into the next game."
