We should handle Air Force with little difficulty. True, they are a Mountain West Conference team (ranked as high as the 5th toughest soccer conference) and they did have very close one goal losses to both Colorado and Northern Colorado. Still, the way we are playing right now, I predict a 2-0 or 3-0 win for ISU. This should be a great warmup for Colorado College.
Colorado College is different story. They handled Oklahoma easily (3-1) and know they must win the next 4-5 games to earn a spot in the top 20. ISU stands like a bump in the road in their quest. They know they have to beat us and they will throw all that they have at the Bengals. In contrast, if we beat CC, we might suddenly become a blip on the national radar. It will be a tremendously tough challenge for the Bengals, but we can prevail. We have shown up well against tougher teams. Colorado College was ranked 74th in the nation at the end of last year. ISU was ranked 121 out of 315 teams, but we had tied #90 Sac State, #53 Gonzaga, #44 Cal State Fullerton, and #27 Washington State, plus lost by only one goal to #39 Arizona State and #30 Utah (in double OT.) And I honestly believe this Bengal team is far ahead of last year's squad. Given the ISU propensity to bring our "A-game" to the tough outings, I am going out on a limb and predicting ISU on top 3-2. Hopefully, Air Force will give us the momentum and confidence we need to beat CC. (It would really help to have not lost top-scorer Jana Boehler for this game - so the rest of the team, including our talented new freshmen, will have to step up their games to make up for her loss.)
By the way, the team will be looking for some scorers to rise to the top of the heap over the next two weeks. I was told the other day, and then confirmed it... The top career scorers on the team are Jana Boehler (junior forward) and Kiley Quigley (senior midfielder,) each with six career goals. Third place belongs to a young woman who is not only just a sophomore, but who also plays as a central defender: Karissa Henage. Beyond her, no other player on the team has scored more than one goal in their career, but one of those is now freshman Ashley Askwig. I would expect (and hope) that by the end of the season, a least five or six players will have passed Henage in career scoring. Let's make this a year of great offense.