LARAMIE, Wyo. (Oct. 30, 2018) – The Cowgirl soccer team will return to the pitch on Thursday at the 2018 Mountain West Tournament. UW will face the winner of the New Mexico/Colorado College match played on Tuesday.  The semifinal match will take place on Thursday at the Spartan Soccer Complex beginning at 5 p.m. MT. 
 
Wyoming, who tied for the conference championship, enters the week with a 12-3-4 record, 7-2-2 in the MW and finished as the second seed after the tiebreaker. The team is currently riding a four-match winning streak. Last time out, they defeated the Colorado State Rams, 1-0, to close out the regular season.
 
Senior Annika Clayton and sophomore Madi Barrick lead the way four goals, which is tied for tenth in overall matches in the league. Barrick recorded all four of her goals against Nevada and UNLV. Four other Cowgirls follow with three goals each. Senior Brittney Stark leads the way with 37 shots followed by Clayton with 36. In conference games, Stark was sixth in shots and assists. Junior Summer Taube finished tied for sixth in goals and seventh in points, while Barrick was fourth in goals. 
 
In conference matches, the Cowgirl offense ranked second in points (4.64 ppg) and goals (1.82 gpg), third in assists (1.00 aspg) while taking 13.45 shots per contest which is sixth.  Overall, they have a 43.8 shots on goal percentage and have taken 83 corner kicks compared to 64 by their opponents.
 
Junior Cristina Salazar has played all 19 games in net, has 40 saves and a 0.97 goals against average. She is also ninth in the league with three shutouts. Freshman Hannah Lee has played in 14 matches and has 35 saves plus a combined five shutouts. She finished third in save percentage and fifth in gaa in conference matches. Senior defender Taylor Burton has logged 1,799 minutes of the 1,825 played by the Cowgirls including all 90 ten times, 99 once and 110 minutes five times. 
 
The Cowgirls are 4-16 overall in Mountain West Tournament appearances. They last competed in 2016 and lost 2-1 against Utah State. UW has reached the championship match twice. In 2014, they dropped a 1-0 contest in overtime against San Diego State and in 2011 falling to New Mexico, 2-0.   
 
New Mexico comes in to the contest 11-5-2 overall, tied with Boise State and the Cowgirls with a 7-2-2 mark in the conference. They enter the tournament as the third seed. The Lobos closed out the season with a 3-1 win over San Diego State and are on a four-match winning streak.
 
Gwen Maly leads the team with seven goals along with 15 points and 46 shots. Alesia Garcia follows with six goals and four game winning goals. Goalkeeper Emily Johnson has competed in 17 games, has 62 saves and a 1.44 goals against average. As a team, UNM is averaging 17.1 shots and 2.22 goals scored per game.  
 
This will be the 30th meeting between the two schools. The Lobos lead the series 15-9-5. The last time the two squads met was Sept. 23, 2018 win the Cowgirls coming out on top with a 3-2 victory in Albuquerque. The last time the two met on a neutral pitch was Nov. 6, 2014 as UW defeated the Lobos 2-1 in overtime of the semifinals of the MW tournament.
 
Colorado College enters the tournament as the sixth seed with a 9-6-2 overall and a 5-4-2 record in Mountain West action. The Tigers ended the regular conference season with a 1-0 victory against Air Force.
 
The Tigers are led by senior Lauren Milliet who has a team high five goals and four assists plus 71 shots on the year. Sophomore Tayla Wheeler has three goals and two game winners. Sophomore Jade Odom has played in all 17 games in goal and has a 0.85 goals against average which is second in the league. CC returns ten starters and 17 letterwinners to a team that went 6-9-4 overall and 3-6-2 in the league a season ago. 
 
This will be the 14th meeting between the two schools. Colorado College leads the series 9-4-0, but the Cowgirls have won the last three in a row. The last time the two teams met was Oct. 5, 2018. Wyoming won the contest 3-1 in Laramie. The pair have only met once on a neutral pitch. Colorado College won 1-0.
 
For the match, live stats and video will be available at GoWyo.com. Follow @wyo_soccer on twitter for updates throughout the game.