Buffaloes Blast 'Bama 4-0 In Commodore Classic

Sunday, August 27

Nashville, Tenn.

11 a.m.

Colorado

1-0-1

Alabama

0-2-0

Colorado

Alabama

Photo by: CUBuffs.com

August 27, 2006 | Soccer

Box Score

By: Lindsay Lew, Associate SID

NASHVILLE - Playing in the noon sun in 94 degree heat, the University of Colorado Buffaloes overcame the unfamiliar conditions here Sunday to defeat the Alabama Crimson Tide by a score of 4-0.

With the weather a cool 65 degrees in Boulder, the Buffs endured the hot sun in their road black uniforms to dominate the game from start to finish.

"Today was a great opportunity for the kids who didn't get a lot of minutes on Friday night to play today," said Bill Hempen. "We told them after that double overtime game that we were going to need them today, and we did. They responded very well to that."

Michelle Wenino notched the first goal of the season for Colorado at the 4:20 mark of the first half. Alex Cousins tried to get a shot off, but the goalkeeper blocked it and did not possess it. Wenino hit a first time shot, across the goal mouth and into the lower left part of the net. It was her second career goal, the first coming against Texas Tech in the final regular season game of 2005, and is the seventh-fastest in school history.

Wenino and Cousins combined again 24:37 into the game. Cousins took the ball down the left flank and cut the ball inside on her defender. She played a low cross in front of the goal, which Nikki Keller couldn't get to, but Wenino was able to direct into the right corner of the net to make it 2-0.

Kara Linder came up huge for Colorado with 18 minutes left in the first half. Alabama's Gillian Kilbum took a pass and was wide open and all alone on the left side of the penalty box. She teed up and blasted a solid shot from 15 yards out, but Linder made a fantastic save to her left and caught the ball to keep a clean first half scoresheet. She had two saves on both of Alabama's shots on goal.

Cousins got on the scoresheet herself with her second collegiate goal. She took the ball down the right flank and fired a shot from 25 yards out on the right side of the field. The ball was over the outstretched hand of goalkeeper Kara Gudmans to make it 3-0 at the 52:34 mark of the match.

"Once you get that first goal, things always seem to get better from there," said Cousins. "It was just so hot out here, and so warmup was hard and truthfully I felt a little sluggish so it was good we got on the board so fast. We really played well and it was great to get so many minutes for everyone. It was good for us to play in these conditions."

Nikki Keller put in CU's fourth goal of the match with 36:55 to play. Allie True knocked a ball into the left corner to freshman Caitlin Choun. She hit a pass across to Keller, who one-timed it from seven yards out into the lower left corner of the net. The goal was the fifth of Keller's career, and marked the first career assist for Choun.

The Buffs finished with 30 shots, 14 on goal. Alex Cousins led all players with six shots, three on goal.

Freshman Ally Goodman made her collegiate debut early in the first half, and Kirstin Radlinski made her season debut, subbing in for Linder with 34 minutes to play. Colorado opens the season with two straight shutouts for the third time in school history. Laura Munnelly was the only player to play the full 90 minutes for CU. Colorado is now 2-1 against Alabama all-time.

The Buffs will open the home slate this Friday, Sept. 1 when they face the Clemson Tigers at 4 p.m. at Prentup Field. Admission and parking are free.