Soccer Buffs Fall to Texas 2-1

Sunday, October 8

Boulder, Colo.

1 p.m.

Colorado

7-4-2, 1-3-1Big 12

Texas

10-3-1, 4-1-1Big 12

Texas

Colorado

Photo by: Chip Bromfield, ProMotion Ltd.

October 08, 2006 | Soccer

Box Score

By: Aaron Lopez, Denver Nuggets

BOULDER - A Nikki Marshall goal in the first five minutes of the game was not enough for the No. 17 University of Colorado women's soccer team as they dropped their second straight, falling to No. 22 Texas by a score of 2-1 on Sunday.

The Buffs got the early lead after the Marshall tally, but goals from Texas' Carrie Schmit and Emily Anderson late in the first half sent Colorado to their fourth loss of the season.

"I'm about as disappointed as I've been in quite some time," said CU coach Bill Hempen. "The way we lost is the biggest issue, giving up easy simple little goals. It's hard enough to score in this game. But when you're spotting them one, two, three goals, you're not going to get very far.

Marshall got CU on the board early in the first half, connecting with Laura Munnelly for her ninth goal of the season. Munnelly sent a through ball to Marshall on the left side of the goal and she took one touch before burying it into the back of the net, giving Colorado the 1-0 lead at the 5:06 mark, the seventh-fastest goal in school history.

Towards the end of the first half Texas gained momentum and finished two quick goals before time expired. UT forward Carrie Schmit put Texas on the board in the 42nd minute as she took a cross from Kelsey Carpenter right in front of the goal and knocked it high and hard past Colorado goalkeeper Kara Linder. Emily Anderson scored her first goal of the season to give Texas the lead less than two minutes later. Anderson received a misplayed ball from the Colorado defense and hit a shot past Linder, taking a 2-1 lead into the half.

Colorado was out-shot by Texas 8-3 in the first half, with Texas getting three shots on goal to Colorado's two.

The second half was a strong battle between both teams as Colorado fought hard to get on the board again. Colorado senior Katie Griffin would nearly tie the game up in the 74th minute as she hit a hard shot in the box, but was denied by Longhorn keeper Dianna Pfenniger. Colorado was unable to get another shot on goal off in the remaining 16 minutes of the game.

Texas challenged the Colorado defense and second-half keeper Kirstin Radlinski as UT's Carpenter carried the ball past the CU defense and was denied by a sliding Radlinski who was able to clear the ball out of the box, preventing the Longhorns from capitalizing in the second half.

Colorado drops to 7-4-2 overall and 1-3-1 in Big 12 play while Texas improves to 10-3-1 overall and 4-1-1 in the Big 12.

"We've got to find a way to get some points soon," said Hempen. "There's only five games left. We've got a long way to go. My whole deal is you've got to win at home and steal one on the road. Now we've got to steal at least two on the road. I don't know if we're capable of doing that right now but we hope to be able to do something this week in training and stop the bleeding. We're at a crossroads right now with what we want to do. So we've got to fix it."

Colorado will look to rebound in Big 12 Conference play as they travel to Missouri on Friday to take on the Tigers at 6 p.m.