Corvallis, Ore. – Gwen Bieck and Nikki Faris scored their first goals of the season on Sunday to lead the Oregon State women’s soccer team to a 2-0 victory over Colorado in a Pacific-12 Conference game at Lorenz Field.

The Beavers (5-3-3, 1-2-0 Pac-12) rebounded strongly from Friday’s 1-0 loss to Utah to earn split of their weekend series with the Mountain schools. It pressed from the start and scored twice for the first time since a 2-1 overtime victory over San Francisco on Aug. 30.

“Our plan was to take more responsibility in the attack,” OSU coach Linus Rhodesaid. “To get at people, to dribble, to take people on, to make plays.

“I think we responded and did a good job. In the first half we had a lot of good looks, the scoreline could have been a lot more early on. So it was positive.”

OSU dominated the opening half, outshooting Colorado 9-5 and building a 2-0 advantage in corners. An offside negated an apparent header goal by Faris in the fifth minute, but the Beavers finally broke through at 26:03 when Bieck blasted a shot home from just inside the 18-yard box.

Bieck’s first goal of the season, the second in her four-year career, completed a three-way play with Jenna-Lee Baxter and Natalie Higgins and came against her former club teammate, Colorado keeper Kate Scheele. A senior defender, Bieck also scored at Stanford on Sept. 27, 2012, as a freshman.

“I was open, had the right opportunity to take a shot and didn’t think about it, I just hit it,” Bieck said. “It was a hard strike, it felt good. I hadn’t scored since my freshman year so it was a nice change.”

Colorado battled for the equalizer for much of the second half but was turned away at every opportunity. Faris then put the game to bed at 85:06 with her first career goal as she sneaked a shot home off the right post off a left-to-right cross fromEmma Jones.

“We knew Colorado would throw bodies forward, and launch balls in there on free kicks,” Rhode said. “We had to stand strong. Then it was a nice finish by Nikki to put the game away.

“It’s a good feeling. To get that win was not only big for today but it’s a great confidence booster for the team,” to snap a five-game winless (0-3-2) streak.

Sophomore goalie Bella Geist had four saves in posting her fifth shutout of the season. She has eight in her one-plus seasons, tying her with Jo Fletcher (2001-02) for fifth on OSU’s career list.

OSU has allowed just seven goals in 11 games, and no more than one goal in 10 of those 11 starts. Geist has 172 career saves in less than two seasons and needs just 17 more stops to pass predecessor Sammy-Jo Prudhomme for sixth place on OSU’s career list.

“We work on our defense a lot,” Bieck said. “Without good defense you won’t win games; it’s the same with offense. Today, both sides of the game clicked for us.”

The Beavers resume Pac-12 action at Stanford at 7 p.m. Thursday in a game to be televised by Pac-12 Networks. They then play at California at noon on Sunday.

For more information on the Oregon State women’s soccer team, follow the club’s official Twitter account at twitter.com/@OSU_WSoccer.

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