No. 23 Colorado Ties No. 9 Texas in Big 12 Championship, UT Wins Title In Shootout

Sunday, November 5

San Antonio, Texas

12 p.m.

Colorado

Texas (Championship)

Photo by: CUBuffs.com

No. 23 Colorado Ties No. 9 Texas in Big 12 Championship, UT Wins Title In Shootout

November 05, 2006 | Soccer

Box Score

By: Lindsay Lew, Associate SID

SAN ANTONIO, Texas - The No. 23 University of Colorado women's soccer team tied the No. 9 University of Texas in the 2006 Big 12 Women's Soccer Championship game here Sunday afternoon by a score of 1-1.

The championship was then decided on penalty kicks, which Texas won 5-4. Colorado went to overtime in all three games in the Big 12 Tournament and had two come from behind results against top 10 teams en route to their ultimate runner-up finish.

"They have to remember that what we lost was the trophy," said Colorado head coach Bill Hempen. "We didn't lose the game we lost the trophy. Those were two spent teams and I'm shocked we were able to do as well as we did with the minutes we played the last five days."

Colorado came into the game after two straight double overtime contests, having advanced on penalty kicks against Kansas on Wednesday and then coming from behind to defeat No. 7 Texas A&M with just three minutes left in double overtime on Friday night 3-2. The Buffaloes were physically tired and it showed from time to time in the early going. The teams got to halftime tied at 0-0.

Texas got on the board early in the second half when Kelsey Carpenter took a pass from teammate Carrie Schmit. She made a nice turn to get past the Colorado defense and dribbled in breakaway fashion towards the net. CU's Kirstin Radlinski came off her line, but Carpenter took the shot before she got there and she tucked it away in the right side of the net at the 47:53 mark of the second half for her 14th goal of the season.

At that point, it looked as though the Buffaloes were done, but Hempen's side continued to battle back and get some chances as the half progressed. They got a great chance when Alex Cousins was fouled on the right side of the field outside of the penalty area.

Senior Katie Griffin stepped up to take the free kick. She sent a driven ball high into the penalty area about 15 yards out from goal. Cousins rose up and hammered home a world-class header past UT's Dianna Pfenninger into the top right hand corner of the goal, hitting it so hard that it got caught in the side netting. The Buffaloes were back in the game, now tied 1-1 with just under 12 minutes to play at the 78:15 mark.

"Toward the end of the game I thought we were going to score," said Hempen. "I didn't know it was going to come off a free kick, but if we got the chance, hey it's a good start."

That would be the end of the scoring for either team in regulation and so the Buffaloes would go to overtime for the third game in a row. Again the Buffs and Longhorns had chances, but neither team could score the decisive second goal. So the game would end in a 1-1 tie, but the tournament championship would come down to a shootout.

Texas shot first and Kasey Moore drove hers home, followed by CU's Cousins doing the same. Next was Stephanie Logterman for UT who finished her chance despite a deflection by Radlinski, followed by CU's Katie Griffin, who also hammered hers into the net behind a diving Pfenninger. Priscilla Fite for UT and Laura Munnelly for CU each made their chances. Then Texas' Carrie Schmit missed hers wide right and the door opened for Colorado.

Allison Kidd for CU made her kick, and she was followed by Caitlin Kennedy of UT who hit hers just under the crossbar but into the net to keep Texas alive. Brittany Dornseif had the chance to end the shootout by making her shot. Dornseif stepped up to take it and slightly hesitated on her shot and Pfenninger was able to save it. So then the best of five shootout situation ended and it moved to sudden death. Texas' Greta Carter stepped up and made hers to make it 5-4 to Texas. Then CU freshman Nikki Marshall had the shot that would tie it, but missed wide left and the Longhorns secured the trophy.

"It came down to a penalty kick contest, and it's a crapshoot," said Hempen. "Ultimately they scored and we didn't. Poor Nikki feels horrible and I told her about Christian Laettner in Madison Square Garden missing a free throw as a freshman and then hitting one of the biggest shots in NCAA Tournament history later in his career, and he never missed a big free throw again. Brittany was a stud this weekend and she feels it's on her shoulders. We'd sure like to have that trophy but it wasn't to be."

"It was a hard way to end the week," said Griffin. "But I'm very proud of my team and how we all played together this tournament. Now it's time to move forward and prepare for the NCAA Tournament."

Colorado had four players named to the All-Tournament team: Cousins, Dornseif, Marshall and Nikki Keller. It's just the second time CU has had players named to the All-Tournament team; they join Kathryn Grandinetti, Katie Griffin and Darci Smerchek.

CU and the rest of the soccer world will learn their fate on Monday at 1 p.m. MST when the NCAA announces the 64-team field for the 2006 NCAA Soccer Championship Tournament. Colorado has a record of 12-5-4 and are unbeaten in their last six games and are hoping for their fourth-straight at-large bid to the Big Dance.