Buffs Bounce Longhorns 3-2 In Big 12 Tournament

Friday, November 4

San Antonio, Texas

5:30 PM

Colorado

12-6-3

Texas (Semifinal)

11-8-1

OT 2

Texas

Colorado

November 04, 2005 | Soccer

Box Score

By: Lindsay Lew, Associate SID

SAN ANTONIO, Texas - Thanks to a clutch Allison Kidd goal just 1:06 into overtime, the No. 23 University of Colorado women's soccer team topped the University of Texas Longhorns by a score of 3-2 here on Friday night and are into the Big 12 Championship finals for the first time in school history.

The Buffs had a 2-0 lead disappear with just two minutes left and bounced back from that to beat Texas for the third time in a row.

"I told the team that they could not dwell on what happened at the end of regulation," said head coach Bill Hempen. "You have to go out and decide to win. You treat that just like a win or a loss; you bounce back and you find a way to fight through it. I'm very proud of my team."

Katie Griffin got the Buffaloes on the board first. After a ball was played poorly out wide by the Texas defense to the goalkeeper Dianna Pfenninger, Griffin gave chase and won the 50-50 ball with Pfenninger. She took a touch to goal, and lofted a shot towards the wide open net from 25 yards out on the far left side, where it bounced in on the right side of the goal with 27:31 to play in the first half, giving CU a 1-0 lead.

CU nearly extended their lead with 10:21 left in the first half. Allison Kidd took a pass from Fran Munnelly on the right flank and cut it inside. Her one-on-one with Pfenninger was stopped, but the ball squirted free. Kidd righted herself, took a touch to turn, and fired it at the UT goal line. The Longhorns cleared it off the goal line to avoid the 2-0 deficit.

At halftime, Colorado was leading on the stat sheet as well. The Buffs managed eight shots, five on goal, forcing Pfenninger into three saves. UT had three shots, two of them on goal. Freshman Kasey Moore had them both from roughly 50 yards out, both of which did test CU freshman keeper Kirstin Radlinski.

It was Griffin again at the 65:12 mark of the game. Freshman Michelle Wenino carried the ball from the last third of the field, all the way into the middle of the Texas defense before passing off to Kathryn Grandinetti. Grandinetti found freshman Nikki Keller in the middle again, who slotted a ball to Griffin. The CU junior took on Pfenninger, who made an initial save, but Griffin recovered the ball and slammed it home.

Griffin's first goal made her CU's single season record holder for individual goals, breaking the previous mark of 10, held by herself in 2003 and Ashlie Mihalcin in 2004, now standing at 12. She also now holds the record for points with 25. It also gives her 27 goals and 63 points, tying her with former CU standout Melissa Cartmell for second on the all-time list.

CU led 2-0 with 25 minutes left, but UT fought their way back into the game. Texas pulled to within one when freshman Kacey Moore took a long pass from Amy Burlingham and headed it home with 12:34 to play, making the score 2-1.

Freshman Nikki Keller had a solid opportunity to extend the lead to 3-1 with five minutes to play after winning a deflected ball well behind the UT defense. Keller dribbled from 50 yards out, and into the box, but Pfenninger answered with yet another tough one-on-one save, with the ball falling out of bounds to prevent a second opportunity for the frosh.

It would come back to haunt the Buffs three minutes later, when the Buffs were whistled for a foul at the mid line. Pfenninger would be a hero to the Longhorn faithful when she blasted what was intended to be a service ball into the Colorado box. It bounced at the CU 12 yard line, where it cleared CU keeper Radlinski and found the top right corner of the net with just 1:58 left in the game.

"You see one kid go one and one and not finish in Katie Griffin, and she's figured it out now and she finished two of them tonight," said Hempen. "You see the younger kids like Nikki and Allison do the same thing, and you hope that they figure it out. Maybe tonight will be the last time they do it. Nikki felt bad about not finishing that, but I told the team, ?This is a team sport. It doesn't matter, and it happens too fast to dwell on it. Your teammates pick you up; that's what they're there for.'"

The Texas goal on Kirstin Radlinski was just the third on the CU freshman in eight appearances ending a three game shutout streak (Baylor, Texas Tech, Oklahoma) for the first year keeper and cutting short a span of 383 minutes without allowing a goal.

It would be CU's fifth overtime game of the season, with the Buffs owning a 0-1-3 mark in those contests entering Friday's voyage into extra time. The Mesquite, Texas native Allison Kidd would not be denied. Kidd took a pass from Grandinetti on the right side of the box, where she carried it just a few yards before blasting a shot from 15 yards out, past Pfenninger and winning the game for CU. Kidd also had the game-winner against UT in a 2-0 Buffs win earlier this season.

"At the end of regulation, I'll be honest, we were a little bit nervous," said Kidd. "We had been ahead at A&M earlier this season and lost, and then at OU we lost in overtime. But as soon as we stepped off the field and looked at each other, the determination kicked in. We had so many shots that were so close to going in, the game shouldn't have even been in question at that point. We knew right then that we could win and we had all the confidence in the world."

Colorado will take on the No. 10 Texas A&M Aggies on Sunday, Nov. 6 at noon MST. The game will be air via tape delay on Fox Sports Net. CU is 0-11-1 all time against Texas A&M, and this will be the fourth meeting between the teams in the Big 12 Tournament.