Buffs Tie Pioneers 2-2, Advance to Final

Friday, September 2

Denver, Colo.

4:15 p.m.

Colorado

1-1-1

Denver

0-1-1

OT 3

OT 4

Colorado

Denver

September 02, 2005 | Soccer

Box Score

By: CUBuffs.com

DENVER - In the second game of the 2005 Denver Soccer Classic, the University of Colorado women's soccer team battled for 110 minutes to a 2-2 tie with instate rival, the University of Denver. The Buffaloes scored on goals by Katie Griffin and Ashlie Mihalcin and Denver scored on goals by Taryn Hemmings and Rachael Fry.

The Buffaloes (1-1-1) kicked the scoring off in the second minute when junior Katie Griffin dribbled through the midfield and blasted a shot on the ground from 20 yards out, getting past the Denver goalkeeper, Dani Wiley into the bottom left corner of the net. DU stepped up their pressure, but it was the Buffaloes that found the back of the net yet again, in the 17th minute of play. Mihalcin launched a shot from well outside the penalty box, beating the DU keeper in the upper left hand corner of the net to give CU a 2-0 lead.

"I think the worst thing that could have happened was for us to score that goal so quickly," said CU head coach Bill Hempen. "I think when they scored that quickly, they thought it would be easy."

DU found the net in the 28th minute of play when sophomore Jenna Billingsley played a ball through the Colorado midfield to Hemmings who put a shot in the upper right hand corner of the net for the score. Denver found net again five minutes before halftime when Hemmings placed a cross at the feet of sophomore Rachael Fry who bent the ball into the back of the net to notch the score at 2-2.

The second half featured intense play, with Colorado dominating the shot column 6-2, however CU could not put away a game-winner despite good opportunities. The game was tied at the end of regulation and went into the two 10 minute overtime periods. CU again outshot the Pioneers, 4-2, but could not wrap it up and the final score was 2-2.

"Denver has a lot of players not in uniform," said Hempen. "I thought I had troubles (four players out currently) but Jeff really does. He should be really proud of his kids because I think although player for player we might be better, they are really better as a team. They fight together as a team, and I hope we learned from that."

Because of the tournament format, the game went into penalty kicks in an unofficial shootout to determine who would play in Sunday's championship game.Colorado won the shootout 6-5 after senior Jessica Keller saved DU's seventh shot and Ashlie Mihalcin buried her shot to win the shootout.

"I guess the game catches up to you," said CU keeper Keller, who posted two saves on the day.Denver came out very hard; I think the loss to Vanderbilt was hard on (Denver). We scored early on and we maybe settled a bit and then the game got rough. There was a lot of hard tackling in the second half. We couldn't put it away, but I guess practicing PK's in practice paid off. I'm happy for the shooters, because it's hard to take penalty kicks and they did well."

In the first match of the tournament the Wyoming Cowgirls defeated the Northeastern Huskies, 4-2.

The Denver Soccer Classic continues on Sunday Sept. 4, when the Colorado Buffaloes take on the Wyoming Cowgirls at 10:30 am at Pioneer Field. The Pioneers will face Northeastern at 1 p.m.