In the end, the most dangerous player on the field came through.Rampart graduate Matt Friesen scored his second goal of the game 6 minutes into overtime to lift Colorado-Colorado Springs to a 3-2 victory over Colorado College on Wednesday in the season-opening men’s soccer game for both teams.Friesen, the junior captain of the Mountain Lions, who had a handful of scoring chances in the game, headed Austin Bell’s ball from the deep wing just into the goal.“This was a blast,” Friesen said. “This is a great cross-city rivalry. I just got lucky on a couple balls and we won. I’m excited.”Friesen’s first goal came 5 minutes into the second half, when he gathered a long ball, misplayed by the Tigers, and broke in alone on goal.“We’re just getting to know each other,” CC coach Horst Richardson said. “Mistakes hurt us. But it was a good game.”Matt Fechter’s penalty kick in the 66th minute for CC tied the game 2-2 and injected life into the Tigers, who were outplayed for much of the game.But UCCS regained momentum late in regulation and in overtime, thanks in large part to its speed.“We’ve got a lot of bumps the bruises (because of late NCAA-mandated start),” UCCS coach Henry Ellis said. “But when we get back to full strength, we will be even faster.”Speaking of quick, each team scored before most of the crowd of roughly 300 sat down to watch. And the goals were mirror images of each other.CC opened the scoring in the 5th minute, with Kyle Buchwalder heading in Fechter’s corner kick. UCCS evened the score 58 seconds later, with Carlos Verdugo heading in a corner by Eric Goldberg, formerly of Colorado Springs Christian School.

UCCS lost Jabari Shaw in the first half to what Ellis teamed a serious injury. It changed the game because he was one of the fastest players on the field, setting up his team’s first goal by forcing a corner kick.

“When he went down, we had to adjust on the field and it took awhile,” Ellis said. “But in the end, the upperclassmen stepped up the we got the job done.”

University of Colorado at Colorado Springs keeper Brandon Costa (0) and Colton Brisco (25) can’t stop the shot from Colorado College’s Kyle Buchwalder (2), giving the Tigers a 1-0 lead in the first half Wednesdayat Mountain Lion Stadium. Photo by Kevin Kreck, The Gazette

The header from University of Colorado at Colorado Springs’ Carlos Verdugo (17) beat Colorado College keeper Andy McGhie, in blue, to tie the game at 1 on Wednesday at Mountain Lion Stadium. Photo by Kevin Kreck, The Gazette