Nov. 9, 2007

SACRAMENTO, Calif.- Northern Colorado's soccer team (8-8-3) used a late first-half onslaught with goals by junior Teresa Prais and senior Marika Johnson to defeat Weber State (7-8-3) 3-1 in the semifinals of the Big Sky Soccer Tournament on Friday, Nov. 9 in Sacramento, Calif. The Bears will play in the Big Sky Championship game for the first time since joining the conference and have the opportunity with a victory over Sacramento State/Portland State to make the NCAA Tournament for the first time since moving to up to Division I. The win was also Northern Colorado's first over the Wildcats in four tries.

The game was scoreless for most of the first half until the Bears exploded for a pair of goals in a 1:51 period of time. Prais tallied the first goal of the afternoon (36:17) off the feed from redshirt sophomore Jessica Zimmerman and sophomore Laura Engel. Engel started the play with a dribble down the field where she passed off to Zimmerman who then crossed it to Prais who let one rip from 10 yards out for her fifth goal of the season.

The NC offense kept it in high gear with another goal just under two minutes later. Marika Johnson tallied her third goal of the year off the dish from Prais on a header (38:08) to give the Bears a 2-0 lead, NC lead at the break despite being outshot 15-7 and out corner kicked 3-1.

After intermission, the Wildcats kept up the aggressive play with wild determination but it was the Bears that scored the next goal. Senior Megan Miller put a cross in front of Zimmerman who found the back of the net on a header for her third tally of the year (86:15).

Weber State finally broke through for their lone tally of the game when Natalie Blaylock rebounded a shot attempt from Lauren Parkhurst for her fourth goal of the season (88:44). The Wildcats again held a wide margin in shots at 12-5 in the second stanza but it was the Bears that made their attempts count. Of Weber's 27 shots in the game only 12 were on target compared to NC's 12 attempts with seven being on the mark.

Freshman Heidi Owen won her eighth game of the year with 11 stops. The loss went to Rebecca Ritchie who surrendered all three goals in 90 minutes between the pipes.

"I'm really pleased that we scored three quality goals today," Tim Barrera commented. "All season long we've created many great opportunities and it was good to see us capitalize today. Weber State put a lot of pressure on us all day today, but our team was able to handle it effectively. We are really pleased to make the finals of the Big Sky Tournament in only our second year in the conference and look forward to our matchup with either Sacramento State or Portland State on Sunday."

Northern Colorado will now play in the Big Sky's Championship Final against the winner of the Sacramento State/Portland State game on Sunday, Nov. 11 at 11 a.m. PST. The winner of the championship final will get the league's automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament.