It was another busy week for Pack athletics, as five sports continued their seasons and one more got underway.
All-in-all it was a pretty disappointing week for fans of Pack sports, with only a few bright spots in an otherwise bleak showing for the athletics programs across the board.
So do you prefer to start with the good news or the bad? I personally, always like to start with the good…
Pack men’s golf begins their season with a win— Sept. 5 and Sept. 6
The Pack men’s golf team got their season underway on Monday, starting it off with a bang by taking first place overall at the Farmers Insurance Samuel Proal Invitational on their home course at Walking Stick Golf Course.
The team was led to victory by senior Jake Ice, as well as junior, Neil Tillman, who finished tied for first place as both earned their first tournament wins for the Pack.
As a team, CSU-Pueblo finished at +2 after 54 rounds, finishing the tournament eight shots better than their closest competition, Dodge City Community College.
Pack women’s golf takes 4th place— Sept. 5 and Sept. 6
The CSU-Pueblo women also got their season started on Monday, putting in a strong showing in their first tournament of the year by taking 4th place overall out of 14 teams.
The ThunderWolves were led by sophomore Courtney Ewing, who finished the tournament, and tied for third with a cumulative score of 152, finishing eight-over-par.
Women’s and Men’s cross country finish first and second respectively at Colorado College Invitational
Both the men and women’s cross country athletes had strong showings in their second meet of the season, with the women’s team taking home first place out of six teams, and the men placing second.
Junior Miriam Roberts finished first overall in the women’s 6k race with an overall time of 22 minutes and 28 seconds, the same time as senior teammate Bailey Hughes, though Roberts edged Hughes for the first place title.
Senior Jordan Mathes finished third with a time of 22:36, while freshman Gillian finished 10th, helping their team to the overall meet title with a time of 1:57:14.
On the men’s side, the Pack did not take home a first place finish in the men’s 8k event but did however have the event’s second, third and fourth place finishers with Marcelo Laguera, Paul Roberts and Derrick Williams rounding out the top four.
The men finished with a team time of 2:06:52, less than a minute behind the events winner and defending national champion Colorado School of Mines.
Women’s soccer defeats Emporia State 1-0 in overtime
The last of the Pack sports to finish the week on a positive note was the women’s soccer team, who scored an overtime win in their only contest of the week against Emporia State.
Sophomore Rianna Lockhart scored the game’s only goal just a few minutes into the overtime period, giving the pack the go-ahead goal in a game that stayed scoreless through the contest’s first 90 minutes
It was a closely contested game for the Pack, with both teams putting more than 10 shots on goal, but just three on target.
Senior goalkeeper Alison Darr kept all three shots by ESU out of the net to tally the seventh shutout of her Pack career and helped bring the team’s overall record to 2-1, with their next contest coming Tuesday against Eastern New Mexico at home.
And now for the not-so-good news.
Pack volleyball goes 1-3 on the week
Pack volleyball had a tough week with just one win and four losses from Wednesday to Saturday, bringing their overall record to 2-7 on the season. The Pack lost Wednesday to Angelo State in their home opener, then got a win Thursday at the ThunderWolves Classic.
Unfortunately, the Pack couldn’t ride the momentum of the win, and dropped two straight, losing to Texas A&M-Kingsville, 3-2, and Wayne State, 3-0, on Friday. The ladies then took another 0-3 set loss in the CSU-Pueblo Steel & Silver Classic against Adams State.
Luckily for the ThunderWolves, as of this point they still have not faced any conference match-ups, and therefore have plenty of time to turn their season around.
The most important part of their schedule begins now, as their next 18 games will be against conference opponents, starting with Colorado Christian on Friday, Sept. 16.
Football drops its second straight game
ThunderWolves football had their annual red-out home opener on Saturday, taking their second consecutive loss to start the season against West Texas A&M, 26-10, at the Neta and Eddie DeRose ThunderBowl.
The outcome was less than ideal for the Pack, who lost their first regular season game at home in the last 29 appearances.
The team could not get much going over the course of the game, as a fourth quarter touchdown by running back Fradlet Dort would stand as the team’s only TD on the day.
The game was once again dictated by turnovers, as the Pack threw three interceptions on the day, two of which led to 14 points for the Buffaloes.
The Pack will look to turn their season around and get back on track Saturday, in another home game at the Neta and Eddie DeRose ThunderBowl.
Men’s soccer goes 0-2 on the week
After starting the season hot last week with two straight wins to begin the season, the Pack dropped two in a row to even out their record at 2-2 overall.
The Pack lost a tightly contested game on Friday, in overtime against Northeastern State, and followed up with a one-sided 0-3 loss to West Texas A&M on Sunday.
The loss to WTAMU was determined early on, as back-to-back-to-back chances led to three quick goals for the Buffaloes before the game was even 13 minutes in.
The Pack held strong from that point, allowing no goals in the final 77 minutes, but also failing to score themselves.
CSU-Pueblo returns home Friday to begin a five game home-stand at the Art and Lorraine Gonzales soccer stadium.
Edited by: Theresa Wolf
