The Mountain Lions thrived in piercing winds after an early back-and-forth, taking the win against Fort Lewis, 23-12. 

At the game on April 6, four Mountain Lions obtained hat-tricks, scoring 3 goals during the game. 

The first quarter saw the score tied 3 times. In the first minute of the quarter, sophomore attackers Sarah Urbanic and Emma Grace Martin swerved through the Skyhawks defense. Urbanic tossed the ball to Martin who slugged it into the back of the net for the first goal of the game. The Skyhawks responded almost instantaneously. Not even a minute later, they found themselves on the other side of the field to tie the game, 1-1. 

With 9:48 to go in the first quarter, Urbanic pushed through the Skyhawks defense, getting illegally checked during her shot that still went into the net, earning the Mountain Lions a goal, 2-1. Junior midfielder Jade Wilson scored a goal 20 seconds later to give the UCCS a 3-1 lead.  

This woke up the Skyhawks. They scored twice in the next 6 minutes to tie the game, 3-3. Urbanic responded with an aggressive push from the right side of the field to put UCCS back in the lead, 4-3. With 1 second left on the clock, the Skyhawks scored to tie the score once again, 4-4.  

The Mountain Lions gained momentum in the second quarter. Urbanic earned her hat-trick in the first 2 minutes of the quarter to put the score at 5-4. Junior attacker Sydnee Anne-Moeller scored with 11:06, 6-4. The Skyhawks scored next, but that would be their only goal of the quarter, 6-5. With 8 minutes left in the quarter, Urbanic earned her fourth goal of the game. 

A couple minutes later, Urbanic would pass to Martin to extend the lead to 9-5. Freshman midfielder Lauren Schindlbeck and senior midfielder Erica Rivera would close out the last two minutes with goals of their own, ending the quarter, 11-5. 

Anne-Moeller opened up the third quarter with a goal in the first 40 seconds. Urbanic would get her fifth and last goal of the game 30 seconds later to make the score 13-5. With 12:38 left in the quarter, Martin flew down the center of the field and passed to freshman midfielder Sofia Watts, extending the lead to 14-5. The Skyhawks scored 4 goals sprinkled throughout the quarter, but it wasn’t enough to catch up. Goals from Watts and a hat-trick goal from Martin ended the third with a 9-point lead for the Mountain Lions, 18-9. 

A hat-trick goal from Watts kicked off the fourth quarter. In the next 10 minutes of play, Schindlbeck and Martin would score to extend the lead even further to 21-10. Urbanic flung a pass to Anne-Moeller with 4 minutes left, giving Anne-Moeller a hat-trick. The Skyhawks scored 3 points this period, but it was no match for the Mountain Lions lead, ending the game 23-12. 

Urbanic, who had 5 goals and 4 assists in the game, commented on her performance. “I like how I played. You can always improve, but I’m happy. I was happy to be able to assist more than I have been in the past few games,” Urbanic said.  

This is the second time the Mountain Lions have played against Fort Lewis College this season. Urbanic said the team studied Fort Lewis’ gameplay to find weaknesses. “We know [Fort Lewis]. They play hard and hit hard. So, we were definitely learning how to move around the contact and use the contact to our advantage,” Urbanic said. 

Behind Urbanic, Martin took second in most goals with 4 and had 5 assists. Watts and Moeller both earned a hat-trick. 

Midfielder #4 Rylie Maready scored 2 goals. Photo by Lillian Davis