Women's Soccer Falls 2-1 at No. 14 Texas A&M

COLLEGE STATION, Texas - The University of Colorado women's soccer team jumped out to an early lead, but were unable to hold on to it, falling to the No. 14 Texas A&M University Aggies by a score of 2-1 here Friday night.

Colorado falls to 9-6-2 on the year, 5-3 in the Big 12 Conference. The Buffs also relinquish first place in the Big 12 to the Aggies, who move into first place tie with a record of 5-2-1 in league play, one point ahead of CU. Colorado now sits in second place, tied with Texas.

Colorado got the scoring started off when senior Kathryn Grandinetti netted her first goal of the season. A Fran Munnelly corner kick ricocheted off Kati Jo Spisak, and Grandinetti was there to blast the rebound into the goal just 8:19 into the first half. Freshman Kirstin Radlinski was also very sharp in the first half, pulling in six saves on all six Aggie shots on goal.

"We were fortunate to get up early and maintain that lead through halftime," said head coach Bill Hempen. "Kirstin had a great save at the very end of the half and we looked and felt alright about the first half."

Unfortunately, the Buffs would relinquish their lead early in the second half. Texas A&M's first goal came off a broken play in the Buff defense, when Radlinski played a short goal kick to the right side of her defense, only to have it broken up and immediately taken to counterattack by Kat Krambeer. Krambeer passed it to Ashlee Pistorius, who knocked a cross in to an open Melissa Garey. Garey, the Big 12's leading scorer, kicked it in to tie the game at 1-1 at the 50:44 mark. It was Garey's 13th goal of the year.

The game-winner came off an assist from the A&M goalkeeper Spisak, a rarity in soccer. Colorado played a ball into the last third of the Aggie defense, and the Buffs were called offside. Spisak played a long service from the spot, and Texas A&M's Suzzette Devloo ran onto it and tucked it away past Radlinski for the game-winner at the 73:36 mark.

"We've never beaten this team," noted Hempen. "At some point...I'm trying to still sort it out. One thing I know for sure; they negated our midfield. We'd defend hard, win the ball, and give it right back to them, which makes it hard to constantly have to defend without getting a break. We had too many unforced errors in that environment. It was an awesome environment for them. They had a distinct home field advantage."

Making her first career start, Radlinski really did not disappoint and held down the fort well for injured senior Jessica Keller, who is home recovering from surgery to repair a broken ankle suffered on Oct. 16 vs. Kansas. The freshman finished with 11 saves on 13 A&M shots on goal, the most shots on goal Colorado has faced all season and a season high for saves for any Buff goalkeeper this year.

Colorado will try to bounce back from this defeat on Sunday, October 23, when they travel to Waco, Texas to take on the Baylor Bears at 12 p.m. MDT. CU has just two Big 12 games left, at Baylor on Sunday and then at Texas Tech on Friday, October 28.

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Team Stats

Kathryn Grandinetti

Darci Smerchek

Nikki Keller

Ashlie Mihalcin

Players Mentioned

Kathryn Grandinetti

Jessica Keller

Fran Munnelly

Kirstin Radlinski

Players Mentioned

Kathryn Grandinetti

Jessica Keller

Fran Munnelly

Kirstin Radlinski