SOCCER DROPS 1-0 DECISION TO #2 PORTLAND

Friday, August 29

Boulder, Colo.

4:00 PM

Colorado

0-1-0

Portland

1-0-0

Portland

Colorado

Photo by: CUBuffs.com

August 29, 2003 | Soccer

Box Score

By: CUBuffs.com

BOULDER - The Buffs held defending national champion and second ranked Portland scoreless for 87 minutes before a Colorado defensive breakdown resulted in a Portland scoring opportunity which it capitalized on, to upend the Buffs 1-0 in the season opener for both teams in front of the second-largest crowd in CU's history, 1,586, here today.

'We that's so often the case in this game. There was a technical breakdown and the ball is in the back of the net,' said head coach Bill Hempen. 'We missed a clear, and then there was a corner kick, and the keeper drops the ball and unfortunately for us that was the only mistake we made all day.'

Colorado was on the offensive early as freshman Maddy Minnis got off the game's first shot, but was denied by Portland keeper Cori Alexander. That would be Colorado's first and last shot of the first half as the Buffs played on their heels the remaining opening stanza while Portland unleashed for eight unanswered shots and three corners by haltime.

The Buff defense had several stances in the opening half, led by sophomore defender Ashlie Mihalcin and freshman keeper Nikki Resnick. On Portland's third shot of the game, Pilot sophomore Lindsey Huie nailed a shot from the left side of the box and was cleared off the line by Mihalcin in the 22nd minute of the game. In the 25th minute, a potential Portland two-on-one outside the box by Angie Woznuk and Huie was broken up by CU's Alyssa Burgess. A Huie corner kick a minute later was tipped past the opposite post by a jumping Resnick. Mihalcin added a header in the box in the 36th minute.

Mihalcin continued her attack on the Portland offense in the second half, stuffing Elsa Hume in the box in the 49th minute and creating chances for Colorado to take advantage of a visibly tired Portland squad. The Buffs responded with two straight corners and were on the offensive most of the second half, matching Portland shot for shot with four until the final minutes of the game.

The Buffs had opportunities and kept the pressure applied in the closing minutes, with an offensive opportunity in the 79th minute. Preseason All-Big 12 midfielder Fran Munnelly set up a Colorado direct kick when she was brought down by Portland's Lisa Sari just outside the box, for which Sari was issued a yellow card, but Munnelly's kick was blocked.

With under three minutes left to play, Huie took the game's final corner and an eventual lose ball ended up in the top left corner of the box from Stephanie Lopez to Jennifer Tuttle, who had just entered the game 10 minutes earlier, whose shot went between the left post and a diving Resnick to break the stalemate.

'I feel like this was a good challenge for us,' said Munnelly. 'We still need to gel as a team and get the pass connection. We need to get the whole team to gel with the defense.'

'We did exactly what we wanted to do and played the system we wanted to and we held the way we wanted to,' closed Hepen.

Colorado's season-opening weekend continues when they host Georgia (1-0) on Sunday in a noon start at the Pleasant View Soccer Complex. The Bulldogs are coming off a 3-0 blanking of Wyoming in Laramie today.