SOCCER BLANKS NORTHERN COLORADO 3-0

Friday, October 1

Boulder, Colo.

4 p.m.

Colorado

8-2-1

Northern Colorado

1-9-0

Northern Colorado

Colorado

October 01, 2004 | Soccer

Box Score

By: CUBuffs.com

BOULDER - In the first ever on-campus Division I women's soccer game, the University of Colorado got a pair of scores from Katie Griffin and one from Jen Thais to blank Northern Colorado 3-0 in front of 309 loyal fans that braved the sub-50 degree, overcast and cold conditions at Prentup Field here Friday.

After outshooting the Bears 18-6, taking seven corner kicks and forcing UNC goalkeeper Chrissy Marvin to make 10 saves to Jessica Keller's 3, the Buffs improve to 8-2-1 overall while Northern Colorado drops its sixth straight and falls to 1-9-0.

"We're still thinking that we're better than that. We're just not seeing that first pass fast enough," said head coach Bill Hempen who picked up career win number 197 with today's win. "I love this field (Prentup Field). Despite the weather conditions, the field held up very well...our groundskeepers do a great job. I was shocked at how many people came out considering the weather and not knowing about this field."

The Buffs continued to capitalize off set plays when sophomore Griffin headed a Kathryn Grandinetti corner kick on the near post in the ninth minute for her third score of the season, first in five outings while Grandinetti picked up her fourth assist of the season.

A Shannon Kellogg shot two minutes later was grabbed by Marvin and would be CU's last attempt on goal for the next 12 minutes before senior Jen Thais took a Tricia Regan serve from the right flank and her shot from the top of the 18 found the back of the net for her second goal of the season, giving the Buffs a 2-0 cushion going into the halftime intermission.

The Buffs fell short of several opportunities in the second stanza as they were called for four of their five offsides violations in the second half.

Griffin made it a 3-0 game when Maddy Minnis took a short pass from Thais on CU's sixth corner of the game and her shot from left sideline was headed by Griffin in the 65th minute, their second score off a corner and Griffin's third career multiple goal game, becoming CU's all-time leader in the category.

"We've been working on taking our free kicks quicker," explained Minnis who took a game and tied a career high four shots "Jen looked up and saw me and it just worked. It's a lot different being a year older and not starting (compared to starting 18 games as a freshman), so I've been taking more advantage of my time on the field."

The Colorado offense would get off two more shots while the CU defense would limit the Bears to just one more in the game.

Hempen started to clear his bench in the 70th minute and continued in the 81st, marking the first time this season that he has used all available field players in a single match, including walk-on Courtney Harris who saw her first game time in a Buff uniform.

"We really needed to get the Brittany Dornseif's and Shannon Kelloggs on the field. It was good (for those kids) to get some quality time on the field," added Hempen.

Following at road contest at Missouri (which after knotting the game at 1-1 in the 78th minute, dropped a 2-1 overtime decision to Nebraska tonight in Columbia in the 103rd) on Sunday at noon (MT), Colorado returns to Boulder and the Pleasant View Soccer Complex for a program record five game homestand against No. 9 Texas A&M (Oct. 8), Texas (Oct. 10), Baylor (Oct. 15), Texas Tech (Oct. 17) and Oklahoma (Oct. 22).