SOCCER BLANKS TEXAS TECH 7-0

Sunday, October 17

Boulder, Colo.

11:30 a.m.

Colorado

10-4-2, 3-3-1Big 12

Texas Tech

3-13-0, 0-8-0Big 12

Texas Tech

Colorado

October 17, 2004 | Soccer

Box Score

By: CUBuffs.com

BOULDER - Fran Munnelly scored the quickest goal in program history, Maura Gentile netted her first career goal eight minutes and 41 seconds into her first career start and Jen Thais recorded CU's first-ever three-goal game to contribute to a school record 7-goal shutout over Texas Tech here Sunday giving University of Colorado head soccer coach Bill Hempen his 200th career victory while simultaneously coaching his milestone 350th career match at north Boulder's Pleasant View Soccer Complex.

In his 17th season as a head coach, fourth at Colorado, Hempen is just one of 24 active Division I head coaches to eclipse the 200 win plateau.

"What this means is that I've been doing this a long time," said Hempen on the milestone win. "It's really an honor and a tribute to all the kids that have put up with me over the years and to my first team at Duke (1988) who also contributed to this."

The win gives Colorado its fourth 10-win season in program history, third under Hempen and improves the Buffs to 10-4-2 overall, 3-3-1 in league play. Tech suffered its second worst loss in program history (the Red Raiders dropped an 8-0 decision in 2003 at Texas A&M) and falls to 3-13 overall and remains winless in Big 12 play at 0-8.

Colorado started the scoring spree when an Ashlie Mihalcin serve to Allie True found Munnelly instead who netted the quickest goal in program history just three minutes and 31 seconds into the game. Just five minutes later and 8:41 into her first career start, Gentile took a Kathryn Grandinetti cross, after Grandinetti had beaten Tech players Kim Gentry and Ana Morton on the right flank, and one-timed it for her first career score.

"I was nervous, but more excited to start," said Gentile. "They gave me an opportunity and I did with it what I could."

Thais' first of a school-record three goals was a header off a cross from Mihalcin in the 11th minute. The three scores in an eight-minute, 12-second span were the quickest three goals in school history.

"I don't know that we've every played that good that quickly," said Hempen. "I was very pleased with our first 15-20 minutes. And pleased that we never really gave them a chance. This definitely gives us some confidence."

Mihalcin nearly made it a 4-0 contest when she headed an Ellen Falender corner kick which was headed on the goal line by a Texas Tech defender and sent back into play. A give and go between Tech's Jenifer Thomas and Priscilla Esquivel resulted in the Red Raiders' second offsides call on one of their few offensive possessions of the game.

A Shannon Kellogg to Falender to Thais all-senior combination 20 minutes later put the Buffs up 4-0, with Thais connecting on the first multiple goal game of her four-year career in the 31st minute. Falender would pick up a score of her own less than three minutes later when she took a Munnelly serve and found the back of the net in the 34th minute for her first goal of the season, fifth of her career.

The 5-0 score going into the halftime intermission was the most ever scored by a CU team in a half, bettering the previous mark of four in the second half against Minnesota last season. By halftime Colorado had the advantage in shots, 16-0, just the second time in school history, and first since Sept. 6, 2002 at Wyoming that the CU defense has held an opponent without a shot in an opening stanza.

Thais would make it a school record hat trick when the senior netted her sixth goal of the season when a Fran Munnelly pass from 23 yards out made its way through a pair of Tech defenders to Thais just inside the box who pulled left and laid her single game career high sixth shot of the game to the side of the left post.

"We had planned on her being ready for the Big 12 season but she was obviously back way before that," explained Hempen on Thais' expected return after a torn ACL last spring. "It's great for a senior to have one day in her life where all of that hard work comes through."

"It's nice. I'm really excited. On Friday I was hitting everything over the net," explained Thais who had a then-career best five shots against Baylor. "It was nice to finally score one. This game was awesome. When we started the season early on we really gelled as a team, but didn't have any wins to show for it. Today we kind of clicked...we were really on."

Katie Griffin sealed the win when her second shot from the top of the box found the back of the net with 15 minutes to play.

Colorado's 25 shots on Sunday is the second most in school history, and most since taking 25 in a 1-0 win at Kansas on Oct. 30, 1998. The school mark is 32 vs. LSU in 1996.

Colorado and ninth-ranked Kansas were the lone schools to go unbeaten on the weekend while Texas A&M and Nebraska each suffered upsets at home, setting the stage for a race to the Big 12 Tournament with just two weekends to play. Entering the weekend, the Buffs were ninth in the league standings and with the weekend sweep improved to a tie for sixth (10 points) with Oklahoma State, which hosts the Buffs next Sunday in Stillwater, Okla.. The league's top eight teams will advance to San Antonio on November 3rd.

"We need to keep winning," said Hempen on what the team needs to do to get to get to the postseason. "But we face a tough OU (2-5-0) team on Friday, we play Oklahoma State (3-3-1) away and have to go to Nebraska (5-2-0). We have three very tough games left. We want to win them all. But we'll savor this one and then get ready."

The final contest in CU's program best five-game home stand will be next Friday when the Buffs host Oklahoma at 3 p.m. at north Boulder's Pleasant View Soccer Complex. The game will honor seniors Ellen Falender, Shannon Kellogg and Jen Thais as they play the final home match of their careers at the foot of the Flatirons.