WSU soccer faces two Pac-12 opponents this weekend, playing Utah at 6 p.m. today in Salt Lake City and Colorado at 11 a.m. Sunday in Boulder. Last week at home, the Cougars won 2-0 against Arizona in their first conference match of the season. The win improved their record to 7-1-1 overall and 1-0-0 in conference play. 

The game against Utah will earn fifth-year midfielder Sydney Pulver the lone top spot for all-time matches played as a Cougar with 87 contests played. Head coach Todd Shulenberger said Pulver is a great young lady. 

“What a quiet leader,” he said. “She gets to go back home this weekend to play her last go around here in Colorado and in Utah. She’s motivated, girls build off of her. Again, a great young lady. I can’t thank her enough for what she’s done for this program.”

With seven different players having scored game-winning goals this year, the Cougars have a lot of depth on their roster. WSU has outscored their opponents 26-3. Shulenberger said the depth of this team is a good problem to have, but his team is still leaving goals out there unscored.

WSU just edges out Utah in all-time wins with an 8-7-2 record. Their last matchup was a 2-0 win in February. Currently, Utah has a 5-4-1 overall record and a 0-1-0 conference record this season. Their last game was a 0-3 loss to No. 10 Stanford. 

Before that, the Utes scored two victories with a 2-1 win against Utah State and a 3-0 win against Dixie State.

Shulenberger said winning games in the Pac-12 leads to postseason opportunities and he considers tied games a loss in his book. 

“Winning these games, I told the team it’s pretty simple here,” he said. “The Pac-12 is a tough, tough conference. There were three games that were ties this weekend. So I would put this on the counter as one of the biggest weekends right out of the gate.”

The Cougars also have a winning 7-5 record against Colorado. Their last meeting was a 1-0 win in March, and the Cougs have a two-match win streak against Colorado. 

Before playing WSU, the Buffs will play Washington at home. In their last game, Colorado tied 2-2 in overtime against California. Before that, they managed a 3-1 win against Denver.

Colorado currently has a 5-3-1 record overall and a 0-0-1 conference record. Shulenberger said a sign of success for his team is winning games. 

“We’re looking to get some results on the road here,” Shulenberger said. “We’ve done a good job this non-conference season on the road, and we’re looking to continue that. Again, yeah, each game gets stiffer, gets tougher, a better challenge for us.”

Do not miss out on the Cougar action. The match against Utah can be viewed on the Pac-12 Network with stats by StatBroadcast. The match against Colorado can be viewed on the Pac-12 Network with stats by Sidearm Sports.