Weathering the storm will be essential if Washington State hopes to get six points in their last conference road trip of the season.

The Cougar women’s soccer team (8-2-3, 3-2-1) takes on the Colorado Buffaloes (10-5-0, 3-3-0) Friday in a pivotal Pac-12 matchup.

The Cougars are coming off a golden goal victory against rival Oregon the team hopes will give them the momentum to get out of Boulder with three points.

“This last road trip is very important,” redshirt junior Beau Bremer said. “We always look at things one game at a time, so right now it is the most important time of our season. I think that we play better on the road, we are not worried about playing under pressure, and we are focused on winning.”

Despite one poor game from the defense against Arizona, WSU’s back four has been stellar all year, allowing only seven goals this season. A large part of that defensive success is due to the Cougars’ redshirt senior goalkeeper Gurveen Clair.

“The team mentality right now is that this is just another two games,” Clair said. “A lot of the upper classmen have done this tough road trip before. Colorado and Utah are great teams, and this year can attest to that. They are out there fighting for every game, just like we are. If anything makes this a hard road trip, it is because these teams get to play at home this weekend, and we have to travel.”

The Cougs currently sit in fourth place in the Pac-12, just two points behind the Washington Huskies. Colorado is only one point behind the Cougars in a tie with the Arizona schools for fifth place.

“We have to play Cougar soccer. As of late our game has looked really good,” Clair said. “The style we are playing and the way that we want to play is all coming together. The way we play soccer is not going to change for us, we just have to go out there and do what we know how to do. These are six points we need to take away from these two teams.”

Despite the defensive production, the offense has struggled to finish chances. Head Coach Steve Nugent highlighted goal scoring mentality and handling the altitude as the keys to success for the Cougars.

“I am concerned to the point where we’ve got to have a better mentality in front of the goal and we work on it all the time. It’s the mentality more than anything else,” Nugent said. “It’s going to be a little taxing on our lungs but we have trained so hard this year…and we are prepared for that part of it.”

With only five games left in the regular season, every point is a big one, especially against Pac-12 opponents.

“Colorado and Utah, they are very good soccer teams,” Nugent continued. “You are talking about a Pac-12 conference that is top in the country. Every team is a great team, every team has something to play for. Points are at a premium in this conference.”

The Colorado match will kick off at 2 p.m. on Friday and will be televised on Pac-12 Networks. The Cougars travel to Salt Lake City, Sunday, to take on the Utah Utes at noon.