Buffs Soccer Drops Colorado College 1-0

Sunday, October 21

Colorado Springs, Colo.

TBA

Colorado

2-9-1

Colorado College

8-3-2

Colorado

Colorado College

October 21, 2001 | Soccer

Box Score

By: Colleen Reilly Krueger, Associate Director

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- Buff senior Heather Zonker scored her first goal of the season with 34:08 remaining in regulation to pace the Colorado soccer team (2-10-1) to a 1-0 win over in-state rival Colorado College (8-3-2) and extend its four-year dominance to four straight over the Tigers at Stewart Field here Sunday, halting CU's winless streak at 10.

The win is CU's first since a 2-1 victory over Wyoming on Sept. 2 and the two combined tie the Colorado school record for wins on the road (two) in a single season. Zonker's goal was CU's first since Jen Thais' second half goal on Oct. 5 at Oklahoma State, ending a four-game CU scoreless streak that dates back to Oct. 7 at Oklahoma.

The win also marks the fourth straight in the form of a shutout, including with victories in 1998 (1-0 ot) in Colorado Springs, 1999 (1-0) and 2000 (3-0) in Boulder before today's 1-0 blanking.

"I'm very happy for these kids," said first year head coach Bill Hempen. "We've been coming out on the short end and this time they found a way to win, which is encouraging."

An evenly matched first half resulted in Colorado's third scoreless opening half of the season, first since CU's contest vs. Missouri on Oct. 12. The Buffs held the halftime advantage in shots (6-3) and shots on goal (5-3) while both programs each had a corner and CC goaltender Meghan Loseke had five saves to Sara Erskine's three in her third start of the season.

Heather Zonker had Colorado's first attempt at a score just three minutes into the game and Suzy Kiefer followed up with a shot on goal 10 minutes later. Ashley Honig's shot in the goal box with 29:25 left in the half was denied by Loseke and the Buffs' fourth and fifth scoring opportunities came within 46 seconds of each other, a Danielle Bickley shot on goal with 8:57 remaining in the half followed by Zonker's shot withy 8:11 on the clock.

The Buffs dominated the first 11 minutes of the second stanza, which resulted in Colorado's first goal in five games, a Zonker direct kick 5-feet outside the goal box with 34:08 remaining in the game that went low into the lower left corner passed Loseke who was diving to her right as the ball sailed just passed her hands

"The far post was open and I saw that," said Zonker. "I had been hitting the ball on top, so I concentrated on hitting the middle of the ball on the front post because she (Loseke) left that open."

The Buffs' celebration was nearly silenced when CC had an offensive spurt that resulted in four shots and two corners from 32:16 to 21:02 compared to Colorado's just two attempts on goal in that time span. Not going down without a fight, Colorado College was unsuccessful on a pair of shots in the closing minutes in an attempt to send the game into an extra session.

Colorado College, an independent, may have damaged its chances for an NCAA bid when the tournament bracket is announced next month. "Are they a good team? Absolutely," said Hempen. "But this is not the time of year to lose to a 1-10-1 team."

Colorado's win may have come two days too late as if the Buffs had a result against Baylor Friday night in Waco, they would still be contention for a Big 12 Tournament bid next month. Instead, the 3-0 loss crushed the Buffs' hopes of postseason play.

"Yes, things didn't go our way against Baylor," added Zonker. "But we didn't give up and today's win still feels good. It's not the timing we wanted, but it's a win."

The Buffs' 2001 home campaign concludes Friday when Colorado hosts No. 5 Nebraska at 3 p.m. at the Pleasant View Soccer Complex in Boulder. Colorado seniors Danielle Bassett, Suzy Kiefer, Whitney Peterson, Heather Zonker, Kendall Pata and Jessica Wollow will be honored prior to kickoff in a senior ceremony.

"When you've won after losing a whole bunch, you want to win again that much more," said Hempen. "I'm sure that we'll have a good week of training going into next week's event."