Men's Soccer struggles at UNC tournament

The Western State men's soccer team lost a series of hard fought battles at the UNC tournament last weekend, October 18. The Mountaineers faced three larger schools at the tournament including Colorado State University, Denver University, and the hosts University of Northern Colorado. The Mountaineers lost every one of their three games, but did show signs of improvement as the day progressed. The first team Western faced was CSU, who dealt the Mountaineers their worst loss of the day in the form of a  a 2-0 shut out. Next Western faced DU and showed a better offensive front scoring their only point of the tournament in a 2-1 loss against the Pioneers. Finally, Western faced UNC who defeated the Mountaineers after a hard fought game ending in a 1-0 victory for Greeley. 

  According to team president Tyson Wiegel several factors contributed to the Mountaineers consecutive losses including absent players, poor field conditions and tough opponents. "We played huge schools that have the ability to recruit better players. We had  a lot of injuries as well," Wiegel said. "Also, all of our games were played on turf which made a difference. It was way hot plus we are used to playing on grass," said Wiegel. Being forced to play in an uncomfortable environment against larger teams while missing several players undoubtedly contributed to Western's losses. According to the team's vice president Kyle Moriarty the team did not have enough players to be effective "We had some injuries and other people had to miss the game because of prior obligations like funerals and Parent's Weekend," Moriarty said.

Despite their several losses at last week's tournament the team is optimistic about this weekend's tournament at home, which they believe will afford them a better opportunity to succeed. "We were considering not even going to the UNC tournament because we knew that a lot of our players would be gone due to the Parent's Weekend, but we will be prepared for the next tournament at home," Moriarty said. Men's soccer hosts Mesa State college, Colorado State University and Fort Lewis College this weekend for their home tournament.