Grizzlies battle, but fall 1-0 to UCCS

Joseph Jallow, shown here in ASC's first match against the Mountain Lions, led the Grizzlies with two shots.

Box Score

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.— Sophomore midfielder Riley Gallagher scored his first goal of the season just eight minutes and 50 seconds in while he and his University of Colorado-Colorado Springs Mountain Lion teammates pitched their third consecutive shutout as the Mountain Lions survived to claim a 1-0 men’s soccer win over the visiting Adams State College Grizzlies, Tuesday night here at Mountain Lion Stadium.

The Mountain Lions and junior goalkeeper Adam Liszewski, named as the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference’s Defensive Player of the Week earlier in the day, have now held opponents without a goal for the last 276-plus minutes as they have improved to 6-6-1 on the season.

The Grizzlies, who fell to the Mountain Lions by a 3-0 count in their first ever home match back on Sept. 1, are now 0-9-3 but played one of their best overall games in their young history.

Redshirt freshman Jarod Thomas (Arvada, Colo.) made an impressive 11 saves while sophomore midfielder Joseph Jallow (Oldjeshwang, Gambia) took two of the Grizzlies’ seven shots to lead the offensive effort.

Gallagher’s goal came from 12 yards out into the upper, right-hand corner of the net after a Mike Mason cross that Matt Friesen touched over to Gallagher.

The Mountain Lions continued the pressure and took 11 total shots, including seven on goal in the first half, but could not break through as Thomas, the RMAC leader in saves per game, tallied six in the first half and five more in the second half.

The Mountain Lions finished with a 25-7 advantage in shots and took seven corner kicks to the Grizzlies’ two.  However, they were called for being offsides nine times.

Greg Miley, who had scored one of the three goals in the earlier meeting, led the Mountain Lion attack with eight total shots, including four on goal.

The Grizzlies will conclude their inaugural season on Sunday when they host Westminster (Utah) College at noon as the first part of a men’s and women’s doubleheader at Murphy Field.  The Grizzly women then play against RMAC rival Colorado Christian University at 2:30 p.m.