WSU Soccer (8-1-2) earned a national rank of No.15 from the United Soccer Coaches. They currently sit in third in the Pac-12 after a 1-1 draw Thursday against the Colorado Buffaloes and a 1-0 victory Sunday over the Utah Utes to close homecoming.

The win Sunday gave head coach Todd Shulenberger his 89th career victory at WSU, making him the Cougs all-time winningest coach in program history.

WSU was in control of the game against Colorado, taking a season-high 39 shots in the game, but only had nine on target. Colorado took eight shots and had two on target.

Against Utah, it was more of a defensive battle. WSU took 18 shots with six on target while Utah took 12 shots with five on target.

WSU vs. Colorado:

The game Thursday against Colorado saw the Cougs take almost five times the amount of shots in the game as Colorado did, but could only manage to score one goal.

WSU trailed for 67 minutes in the game as Colorado scored their goal in the 11th minute to take the early 1-0 lead. The goal was scored by Civana Kuhlmann, her eighth of the season, putting her in a tie for third in the conference.

The first half saw WSU control the game and kept possession besides the lone goal for Colorado. WSU took 17 shots with five on target while the Buffaloes took five shots with one on target in the half. WSU took four corners compared to zero from Colorado.

The second half was completely dominated by the Cougs offense, who took 22 shots in the half with only four on target compared to the three shots with one on target from Colorado. WSU Goalkeeper Nadia Cooper only made one save in the game as the Buffaloes’ other on-target shot was a goal. Dani Hansen, Colorado goalkeeper, made eight saves in the game to help give Colorado the draw.

The only WSU goal of the game came in the 78th minute from Bridget Rieken. Rieken crossed the ball into the box and forward Margie Detrizio made a play for the ball but could not touch it, which distracted the goalie and saw the ball bounce into the back of the net to give Rieken her second goal of the season and keep the Cougs unbeaten at home heading into their game Sunday against Utah.

WSU vs. Utah:

The Utes came to town Sunday afternoon after losing 3-2 in Seattle to the Huskies earlier in the week. The game against WSU was a defensive battle the whole game with both teams being relatively even in shots and saves. 

WSU took advantage of an early opportunity given to them. They scored the only goal of the game as WSU won 1-0 to give Shulenberger his 89th win, the most in WSU history.

In the first half the Cougs created early chances which led to the only goal of the game which came in the ninth minute from Grayson Lynch. Margie Detrizio and Lindsey Turner assisted on the goal. This was Lynch’s fourth goal of the season and gave Detrizio her fifth assist of the season which puts her tied for third in the Pac-12.

“Good job for Grayson putting in that game-winner for us,” Shulenberger said.

WSU took six shots in the first half with one on target but were out shot by Utah who took eight shots and forced four saves from Cooper. This was the second time the Cougs were outshot in a half this season, the first came in their first game against Michigan who outshot WSU 5-4.

“They had us out of whack in the first half, I thought we were way better in the second half,” Shulenberger said postgame.

The second half saw WSU control most of the game on the offensive end, but was still a defensive-minded game as Utah made five saves in the second half on 12 shots from WSU while Cooper had to make just one save in the half, bringing her save total to five in the game and 20 on the season.

WSU’s 57 shots combined in both games this weekend brought their total number of shots to 255 on the season. This puts the Cougs sixth in the nation, Stanford is first in the nation with 284 total shots. The Cougs have played 11 games to get 255 shots while the other five teams ahead of them have played at least 12 games, three teams have played 13 games and one team has played 14 games so far this season. WSU is third in the nation with 23.18 shots per game, trailing Stanford with 23.67 and BYU with a nation-leading 25 shots per game.

The next time the Cougs take the field will be Thursday as they travel to Berkeley, California to take on the Golden Bears. The Cougs will then finish the weekend in Stanford, California as they take on the Cardinal Sunday.