CU Comes From Behind To Down Oklahoma State 3-1

Friday, September 29

Boulder, Colo.

TBA

Colorado

Oklahoma State

September 29, 2000 | Soccer

Box Score

By: Lindsay Lew, Assistant Director

BOULDER, Colo. -The University of Colorado women's soccer team (5-6, 1-3 Big 12) came from behind in the second half to defeat Oklahoma State University (3-8, 0-3 Big 12) by a score of 3-1 here Friday afternoon.

"The team was determined not to let what happened last weekend happen again," said head coach Austin Daniels. "They had a good week of training and I think they were focused, they were rested, all of that really. They showed a lot of character, because after getting down 1-0 they could have put their heads down but they showed a lot of character in coming from behind."

Oklahoma State got on the board first, scoring in the 31st minute when Joanne Edwards notched the Cowgirls lone goal of the day. She received a through ball from Julie Harris that she shot, but was saved by CU's Danielle Bassett. Abby Mann hit the rebound, which was cleared off the line by Tiffany Booth, and Edwards then put away to give OSU the 1-0 lead.

Colorado entered the halftime break dominating the Cowgirls offensively, however the Buffs could not put the ball in the net. CU outshot OSU 10 to five in the first half, forcing Cowgirl goalkeeper Katharine Doud to make seven saves to Bassett's three. They also outdistanced OSU on corners in the first half, earning six to the Cowgirls' zero.

The second half was all Colorado, as the Buffs pulled even with OSU on a penalty kick by junior midfielder Heather Zonker at the 62:38 mark of the match. A handball was called on the Cowgirls in the penalty box, and Zonker stepped up for CU's first penalty kick of the season. She hit a hard shot to the upper-right side of the net, knotting the game at 1-1 with just under 30 minutes to play. Zonker had a chance to give Colorado the lead, but an acrobatic save by Doud kept the game even.

CU would take the lead at the 76:34 mark, when senior Melissa Cartmell took a pass from Zonker on the top left side of the box. Cartmell hit a frozen rope that had a little help from the considerable wind, hitting the bottom of the crossbar and going in for her third game-winner of the year.

"I thought this was a great effort by our team today," Cartmell said. "We battled back and didn't let up and just really kept the intensity throughout the whole game. I think falling down 1-0 made us work that much harder. This is a Big 12 game, our conference home opener, and we were feeling the fire. We could not start this conference season 0-3, so we worked hard and it paid off today."

Senior defender Allison Gausman gave the Buffs an insurance goal with just four seconds left, as Cartmell and freshman Kristin Robertson knocked two passes in the box before hitting a streaking Gausman on the right side of the penalty box. Gausman hit a hard shot for her first goal of the year at the 89:56 mark to wrap up CU's scoring effort and give the Buffs a 3-1 win.

Colorado's defense played a solid match, giving up just five shots to OSU, all in the first half of play. OSU managed to get a corner kick in the second half, however they did not get a shot off on the effort. CU outshot OSU 13 to zero in the second half, 23 to five in the entire game. Bassett made just three saves on the day to Doud's 11.

"We were just a lot more organized back there today," said Gausman. "We were communicating a lot more and going to every ball as hard as we could. Last week we had to go back to the other defensive formation, so it was nice to get back in our flat back four. We are getting a lot better at getting teams offside and pushing forward more aggressively, and that was the difference."

The Buffs now lead the series with Oklahoma State 3-1-1, with CU taking the last two meetings, both by a score of 3-1. With her goal and assist, Zonker moved into third on CU's all-time leading scorers list with 29 career points, with just Cartmell and graduate Shawn Kenyon ahead of her. Gausman moved to seventh on the list, with five career goals and five career assists.

Colorado will continue their Big 12 homestand on Sunday, Oct. 1, when they face Oklahoma at 1:00 p.m. at Pleasant View. Sunday will be Daily Camera Autograph Day, as fans will receive team posters that the Buffs will stay after the match to sign.