Thais Gives Soccer 1-0 Win Over Ok-State

Sunday, October 27

Boulder, Colo.

TBA

Colorado

9-6-2, 4-3-2Big 12

Oklahoma State

12-6-0, 3-6-0Big 12

Oklahoma State

Colorado

October 27, 2002 | Soccer

Box Score

By: CUBuffs.com

BOULDER - The Buffs clinched a berth to next month's Big 12 Tournament when Jen Thais' goal, off a broken up free kick in the 87th minute, lifted Colorado past Oklahoma State 1-0 at the Pleasant View Soccer Complex here Sunday.

With the win, Colorado improves to 9-6-2/4-3-2 in Big 12 play and with 14 points in conference action, has clinched a spot in the Big 12 Tournament for the first time in two seasons. Oklahoma State now finds itself in a must-win situation next weekend in Norman as the Cowgirls fall to 12-6/3-6 and with 9 points in league play and must earn the win over Oklahoma for the tie-breaker and eighth seed.

"I'm pretty certain we're in the Big 12 with our win today, depending on where the other teams lie. It was pretty much our game to win in the second half, and we snuck one in. So we're pretty pleased with the game."

The Buffs unbeaten streak has now reached a school-record six games and trails just Texas A&M (13) and Texas (12) in consecutive games without a loss. The weekend sweep also gave the Buffs' 6 critical points in league play, the best weekend conference performance since a sweep over Baylor and Texas Tech in the 1997 season.

With 19 fouls called, a physical first half went scoreless in a midfield-controlled 45 minutes of play. Not only was the score knotted at the break, but so were shots (3-3) and corners (1-1) while Oklahoma State keeper Kat Doud was forced to make a pair of saves.

The second half was all Colorado as the Buffs challenged Doud with 12 second half shots (including nine straight unanswered), 7 on goal, took 2 corner kicks to OSU's 1 and played most of the second stanza on the offensive side of the field.

The silence wasn't broken until a broken up free kick, taken by Fran Munnelly, reached Thais just in front of the net where she placed the ball in the far right corner of the net as the Colorado bench exploded in celebration. With just under three minutes to play, it was the latest first-goal scored in a CU game this season, and latest first goal in a Buff game since the game winner scored by San Francisco in the 117th minute of play during the 2000 season.

"No! I knew it was going in," said Thais on the goal. "I wasn't worried about the ball hitting the crossbar," as several of her attempts on goal have ended this season.

Colorado's win, combined with Kansas and Missouri's losses to Texas A&M and Texas, respectively and Nebraska's 1-0 win over Oklahoma catapults the Buffs from seventh to fourth place in the league standings with one game to play by all teams but Iowa State, which closed out its league slate with a 3-0 win over Texas Tech today.

Final tournament pairings will be announced at the conclusion of the Nov. 1 matches. Big 12 Tournament play kicks off with first-round action Thursday, Nov. 7 at the Blossom Soccer Stadium in San Antonio.

The Buffs close out the 2002 regular season Friday at Nebraska in a 6 p.m. (MDT) kickoff in Lincoln. The Cornhuskers are 10-5-3/5-3-1 in league play and dropped a 2-1 decision to Oklahoma State Friday before a 1-0 win today in Lincoln.

"Right now, these guys are looking forward to the game. I'm glad it's a one game deal so we don't have to play on Sunday, also. We're going to put in a lot of effort his week in practice to prepare for Nebraska."