DENVER, Colo. – The No. 3 seed Regis University women's soccer team got its 2023 postseason march underway Sunday, grinding out a wild 3-1, come-from-behind victory in overtime over No. 6 seed Colorado State University Pueblo out at the Regis Turf Fields.
With the win, the Rangers (14-4-1 overall) advance to Wednesday's RMAC semi-final game against No. 2 seed Colorado School of Mines in Golden. Kickoff is scheduled for 2 p.m. due to potential snow in the forecast for Wednesday evening.
"Obviously, the first half was not our best half of soccer this season. We looked a little tentative and not like ourselves. But even going down a goal, we were never intimidating being down. We just needed to find ourselves," said Regis head coach,
Jeff Frykholm. "The players just did a tremendous job in the second half turning that narrative around, finding ourselves, creating some chances and being more dangerous."
HOW IT HAPPENED
CSU Pueblo (7-5-6 overall) controlled the first half of Sunday's game, getting on the scoreboard first in the 16
th minute when the ThunderWolves cashed in a corner kick opportunity.
The Pack held that 1-0 lead late into the second half until Regis fifth year senior
Kelby Kuo, who was battling a nagging lower body injury, came off the bench and buried a rebound opportunity in the box at the 79:59 mark.
"Kelby has been a little banged up and we talked before the game about, under what conditions, could we play her today. It played out exactly how we talked about; if we needed her to come off the bench to provide a spark in the second half, we were going to do that," Frykholm said. "She was courageous enough to give it a go and got rewarded for her hard work and being opportunistic. We're really proud of her for being brave enough to give it a go and help our team keep going."
Kuo's goal led to a noticeable momentum swing and tilt in possession as the Rangers finished the second half with a 14-2 shots advantage over the final 45 minutes.
They'd carry the momentum into the overtime periods, taking the lead for good in the 94
th minute on a corner kick by
Sarah Wynn that was headed in by graduate student midfielder
Alexis Gaffney for her first goal of 2023.
Exactly five minutes later, sophomore forward
Natalie Bunch netted her team-leading 11
th goal of the season when senior
Jillian Skurcenski threaded a lead pass to the center of the box and Bunch beat a diving CSU Pueblo goalkeeper to put the Rangers up 3-1 at the end of the first of two 10-minute overtime periods.
"As a team, we talked before the game about the importance of the second goal and that whoever scored the second goal first was going to win the game. When we got that equalizer from Kelby, I think there was this collective spirit of confidence from our group," Frykholm said. "It felt like the tide had turn and not only were we playing with more confidence in overtime, but it seemed like one of those 'blood in the water' type moments where the team rallied together and applied great pressure in those overtime periods."
GAME NOTES
- After being outshot 10-6 in the first half, the Rangers finished the game with a 26-14 advantage in total shots.
- Regis also owned a 7-3 edge in corner kicks.
- Freshman goalkeeper Kayla Arucan earned the win in net, coming on in relief at halftime and finishing with two saves in 65 minutes.
UP NEXT
Regis advances to face No. 2 seed and No. 7 ranked Colorado School of Mines on Wednesday in the RMAC Tournament semi-finals out in Golden. Due to potential snow in the forecast that evening, kickoff has been scheduled for 2 p.m. at Stermole Soccer Stadium.
Wednesday's game will be a rematch of the 2022 RMAC Tournament championship game. The winner would advance to this year's title game against either No. 4 seed Colorado Mesa or No. 8 Westminster College, which upset top seed UCCS on Sunday.
"Mines has been the class of our league the last couple of years, super well coached and organized, so it's a tall task. But definitely not one that we shy away from," Frykholm said. "We've played well against them in stretches so it's going to be a matter of putting together a complete effort."
