SOCCER TO FACE UTAH IN NCAA FIRST ROUND PLAY

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BOULDER-The University of Colorado soccer team has received its second straight at-large bid to the 64-team NCAA Division I Soccer Championships, and the 24th-ranked Buffs (14-5-2) will play Utah (13-5-3) in the opening round of the tournament Friday, Nov. 12 while 2002 NCAA Champion Portland (17-3-0) will host Weber State (8-9-2). The winners will meet Sunday, Nov. 14 for the right to advance out of the early bracket. All games will be decided at the University of Portland's Merlo Field the NCAA announced Monday.

Colorado and Utah will play the 5:30 p.m. (MT) match on Friday, followed by Portland and Weber State at 8 p.m. The winners will meet in the second round, Sunday, Nov. 14 at 2:00 p.m. (MT). The winner of the second round game will advance to the tournament's third round (Nov. 19-21) on a campus site to be determined.

"Hey, we get to go again. It seems that the goals of the moment have been met...getting to both tournaments," said head coach Bill Hempen. "Now we roll the dice and see what happens."

A year after sending an NCAA Tournament record eight teams to the national tournament, the Big 12 Conference is sending five in Kansas, Texas A&M, Texas, Colorado and Nebraska. The Big 12 trails only the ACC which is sending seven. Both the Big 10 and PAC 10 are sending five while the West Coast Conference is advancing four.

"As you look at the bracket, there are probably 12 or 13 teams that feel that they could be that team (that knocks off a seeded team) and that?s a good position to be in," said Hempen when asked if he felt the Buffs could be a sleeper team.

Colorado enters its second NCAA Championship after finishing the regular season with a 14-5-2 overall record and a 6-3-1 third-place Big 12 Conference finish. At last week's Big 12 Conference Tournament in San Antonio, the Buffs defeated Missouri 2-1 in an opening round overtime contest before falling to 10th-ranked and No. 2 seed Texas A&M 3-1 in the semifinal round. A&M went on to beat Texas, 3-0, on Sunday for the tournament title and league's automatic bid.

The Buffs are paced by first-team All-Big 12 junior midfielder Fran Munnelly (9 goals, 5 assists, 23 points), junior midfielder Ashlie Mihalcin (9 goals, 3 assists, 34 points), senior second-team All-Big 12 midfielder Jen Thais (7 goals, 4 assists, 18 points) and sophomore forward Katie Griffin (5 goals, 5 assists, 15 points) on offense and first-team All-Big 12 sophomore defender Laura Munnelly on defense. Second-team All-Big 12 goalkeeper Jessica Keller (0.70 gaa, 89 saves, 15 goals allowed will be in net for the Buffs. Keller has a school record 11 shutouts this season, and rode a 465 minute un-scored upon streak that started in the 35th minute against Baylor (Oct. 15) and ended in the 56th against Missouri (Nov. 3) in the Big 12 Tournament. In comparison to last year, all starters on this year's squad have NCAA Tournament experience.

A year ago the Buffs received the program's first-ever bid, one of just 10 teams to do so. But they were the only first-year participant that received one of 16 seeds, coming in as the 10th. Despite their seed and a regular season Big 12 title, the Buffs were sent to Salt Lake City where they faced a veteran BYU squad that took full advantage of CU's lack of tournament experience, ending CU's season in the very first game of the championship, 2-0. In the same bracket, Utah lost to Idaho State on penalty kicks in the opening round.

"The team seems to be in a better place (psychologically) than they were last year. Last year we were in awe, and that cost us. We've made a complete turnaround from a year ago," Hempen said.

The Buffs and the Utes have already met once in '04, in the second day of the Wake Forest/adidas Soccer Classic, with the Buffs coming out on top 1-0 when sophomore Katie Griffin nailed the gamewinner in the 72nd minute. Utah beat Wyoming (1-0) and UNLV (2-0) in the Mountain West Conference Tournament before tying San Diego State 1-1 in the championship. The Utes earned the league's automatic bid on penalty kicks (4-3). Sophomore forward Amanda Feigt is one of four Utes in the double figures column, with six goals and five assists she has a team-leading 17 points. Sophomore midfielder Hailey Marsh is second with six scores and a single assist, followed by junior forward Kim Lloyd (2-8-12) and freshman forward Chelsea Card (5-0-10). In goal, sophomore Ashley Mason has played in 18 of 21 games, has allowed just 16 goals while stopping 69 shots for an 0.88 goals against average.

"Utah is a talented team, but we're a lot different team than when we played them before. We will have different personnel on the field (without starters Allie Kidd and Kathryn Grandinetti who both suffered season-ending ACL injuries). I've got a great respect for Rich Manning and what he's done there."

The sixth-ranked team in the country, and the tournament'fifth seed, Portland is 17-3-0 and has won nine of their last 10 contests. The only setback was a 1-0 loss at then-No.10 Santa Clara. Portland is paced by junior redshirt Christine Sinclair who has 19 goals, 10 assists and 48 points on the season (ninth nationally). Redshirt junior Lindsey Huie, a former club and high school teammate of CU senior Jen Thais, has reached the back of the net eight times and has 11 assists for 27 points. Freshman forward Natalie Budge (6-2-14) and sophomore mid Lisa Sari (4-5-13) are the third and fourth leading scorers on the team. Sophomore Cori Alexander is the Pilots' keeper of choice, playing all of 45 minutes of the season. She has a 0.76 goals against average, allowing 15 scores while stopping 65 shots.

The Buffs opened with the then-defending national champions and second-ranked Pilots a year ago, holding the Pilots scoreless for 87 minutes before suffering a 1-0 defeat when Portland .

"She's a very good player and I know her pretty well," said Thais on Huie.

"Portland is Portland for a reason. They're prepared for teams that want to go in there and knock them off. It will be a great environment to play in. It's (Merlo Field) a true soccer stadium. It will be a great venue for us to play in."

Weber State is an automatic bid with a 1-0 Big Sky Conference Tournament championship win over Montana. The Wildcats are one of 14 teams making their first-ever appearance in the tournament and are 8-9-2 overall after going 2-2-2 in league play. Freshman Naomi Felix has a team-leading six goals and 12 points and junior midfielder Rochelle Hoover has a team-leading seven assists and two goals for 11 points while sophomore Linsey McFarland has four scores (8 points). Sophomore Melanie Stratford has started a team-high 13 of 14 games and owns a 1.74 gaa.

The focus of this region may be its goalkeepers, as CU's Jessica Keller (0.70), Utah's Ashley Mason (0.88) and Portland's Cori Alexander (0.76) all have below 1.0 goals against averages and have combined for 44 wins this season.

"That's pretty much what the Big 12 Conference is like," said Keller. "Kansas' Meghan Miller had an 0.48 gaa, and the A&M keeper (Kati Jo Spisak) is an All-American, so we're pretty used to it. I guess what it means is that each goal counts that much more because they will be hard to come by."

Tickets for Friday and Sunday's matches will go on sale tomorrow beginning at 9 a.m. Prices are $10 for stadium reserved seating; $8 for benchback reserved seating; general admission prices are $7 for adults and $5 for students. Advance tickets are subject to service charges of $1 per ticket for reserved seats and $0.50 per ticket on general admission seats. All tickets can be purchased through the Pilot Box Office at 503/943-7525, or through TicketsWest at 503/224-TIXX/800-922-TIXX.

NCAA DIVISION I WOMEN'S SOCCER CHAMPIONSHIP

All Times Mountain

First Round (Merlo Field, Portland, Ore.)

Friday, November 12

5:30 p.m. COLORADO (14-5-2) vs. Utah (13-5-3)

8 p.m. Portland (17-3-0) vs. Weber State (8-9-2)

Second Round (Merlo Field, Portland, Ore.)

Sunday, November 14

2 p.m. First Round Winners