Women's Soccer Tops Vanderbilt 2-1 in Thriller

Friday, August 26

Boulder, Colo.

4 p.m.

Colorado

1-0-0

Vanderbilt

0-1-0

Vanderbilt

Colorado

Photo by: CUBuffs.com

August 26, 2005 | Soccer

Box Score

By: CUBuffs.com

BOULDER - The University of Colorado women's soccer team opened the 2005 season with a thrilling 2-1 win over the Vanderbilt Commodores on Friday afternoon in front of 1,166 fans at Prentup Field.

Freshman Megan Manthey scored the first goal of her career just in time, giving the Buffaloes a 2-1 lead with just 1:32 to play in the second half. The play started when Ashlie Mihalcin knocked a ball to Fran Munnelly, who faked a touch and let it run to Manthey who drilled a one-timer into the center of the goal.

"I had my eye on the goal, Fran threw up the dummy and I did what I had to do," said Manthey. "I just reacted, put my head down, went through all the fundamentals. It feels good."

Senior Munnelly was equally pleased with the effort from Manthey as well as her classmates.

"I looked behind me to make sure that Meghan was there and then I let it go through my legs. As soon as she got it on her left foot, I knew she'd hit it. It was great for her to score. It will hopefully open her up. The freshmen have to know that it's different (than club soccer). When you get down in club, you may lay off a little, but here you gotta keep pushing. This was a big test for our freshmen and they passed with flying colors."

Vanderbilt scored the first goal of the game when Commodore forward Jessica Lenze got behind the Buff defense. Lea Lafield played a cross to Amy Wilcox, who flicked it into the goal box past a diving Jessica Keller, where Lenze placed it into the open net from the right side of the box.

After the half, Colorado tied it up when Fran Munnelly took a pass from Alex Cousins and carried it two yards before blasting a shot from 25 yards out at the top of the key. The right-footed rocket beat Vanderbilt keeper Tyler Griffin in the upper 90 on the left side of the goal to knot the game at 1-1 with 52:58.

"We talked a lot about our lack of cohesiveness at the half," said Munnelly. "We knew that we had to get on them as soon as they got the ball. It was one of those one-out-of-10 (shots) that was going to go in. Once I hit it, I knew it looked good."

It was also Munnelly's 23rd career goal, leaving her three shy of CU's career mark of 26, held by Melissa Cartmell.

CU freshman Nikki Keller had a chance to give the Buffs a lead in the 70th minute, when she took a through ball from Katie Griffin. However she could not convert on the one on one opportunity when VU's Tyler Griffin smothered it 15 yards out. The two reversed roles with 8 minutes left when Keller played a ball across to Griffin in front of the net, but she too was thwarted by VU's goalkeeper.

The Buffs move to 3-5-2 in season openers, the second win in the first game of the year for head coach Bill Hempen in his Colorado career. CU previously beat Fresno State in the 2002 opener.

Colorado's next game is Sunday, when they travel to Topeka, Kan., for a neutral site game with the University of North Carolina Tar Heels. It will be the third meeting between the two programs, with UNC holding a 2-0 lead after earning victories in 1998 and 1999.