No. 15 Soccer Battles to a 2-1 Win Over Huskers

Friday, October 17

Lincoln, Neb.

3 p.m.

Colorado

12-2-2, 6-1-1Big 12

Nebraska

7-7-1, 3-3-0Big 12

Colorado

Nebraska

Photo by: Boulder Daily Camera

October 17, 2008 | Soccer

Box Score

By: Allie Musso, Assistant SID

LINCOLN, Neb. - When the 15th-ranked University of Colorado women's soccer team needed a pair of goals the most, they would turn to the most prolific goal scorer in school history. Junior forward Nikki Marshall scored two second half goals to lead Colorado to a 2-1 win over Nebraska here Friday afternoon.
With the win, Colorado improves to 12-2-2 overall and 6-1-1 in Big 12 play, while Nebraska falls to 7-7-1 overall and 3-2-0 in the Big 12.

"First of all, Nebraska played their tails off today," said head coach Bill Hempen. "They had us on our heels. They were challenging everything like I knew that they would and they played fantastic. We were able to come out in the second half with a new team after making a handful of tactical adjustments and finish the game strong."

Colorado came out and dominated offensively early in the game, but the Huskers put on the pressure and ended up switching the momentum in their favor for the remainder of the half. Nebraska would get on the board first as Sari Raber followed up a Shay Powell shot off the post and put the ball away in the back of net for the 1-0 Husker lead with 24 minutes to play in the half.

Nebraska outshot Colorado seven to three after 45 minutes of play, but only two of NU's shots were on goal in comparison to CU's three.

The second half would prove to be a different story for the Buffs. Gianna DeSaverio nearly got the Buffs on the board in the 49th minute of the game, when she broke through the Husker defense and took a hard shot on the ground, but it was deflected out of bounds for a Colorado corner by NU goalkeeper Brittany Pfeil.

Marshall would finally tie the game in the 54th minute with her seventh goal of the season, when she took a perfect pass from DeSaverio, beat a defender and tapped the ball in the back of the net for the 1-1 tie.

Marshall, now CU's all-time leader in career goals scored, broke former teammate Katie Griffin's (2003-06) record of 32. Griffin finished her career with 32 goals over the span of four years, while Marshall will now continue to add to the record with an entire year still left to play.

"It feels good, but the win is so much bigger than the record," said Marshall. "I'm definitely excited but I'm much more excited about how our team is doing and I can't wait to be able to continue our success in the next two Big 12 games."

With a new school record under her belt, Marshall proved that she wasn't going to let up. As the clock was winding down and there was less than five minutes left in the game, Marshall struck again with her eighth goal of the season. Senior midfielder Nikki Keller played floating long ball over the Nebraska defense and as their goalkeeper came out to get it, Marshall beat her to the ball and took one touch around her and shot a slow roller over the line for her fourth game-winner of the season to put the Buffs up 2-1.

"Nikki's two goals aren't going to be goals of the year as far as aesthetic value goes, but they were perfect Nikki goals when we needed them," said Hempen. "She is a fantastic player. Everything she gets out of the game is exactly what she puts into it, which is every ounce of effort available in her body."

"At half time we had a reality check and realized that this is our opportunity to control our own destiny and potentially win the Big 12," said Marshall. "We realized what a big win it would be and we came out in the second half and played strong, our defense was great, and we were able to finish our opportunities."

After statistically trailing the Huskers in the first half, Colorado turned the game around in the second half, finishing the match having outshot Nebraska 19-10, and kept the Huskers from recording a single shot on goal in the final 45 minutes of the game.

"In the first half they were attacking us more and we weren't really ready for what they had," said senior defender Michelle Wenino. "They were putting us under pressure and went in on every tackle. At halftime we made some adjustments and played simple and fast, winning more tackles and headers so that was a big factor as to why we didn't allow any shots on goal in the second half."

With the win, Colorado now stands alone in first place in the Big 12 Conference standings as Kansas, who CU shutout 2-0 two weeks ago, upset No. 6 Texas A&M in Lawrence 1-0. The Aggies (12-2-1, 5-1-1 Big 12) after suffering their first conference loss, now have 16 points in Big 12 play, while Colorado has 19.

"We have to get used to playing these very challenging and physical teams," said Hempen. "We're might end up playing Missouri or Nebraska again and we need to learn how to play through it."

Colorado will now travel to Ames, Iowa to wrap up the weekend on Sunday, Oct. 19 when the Buffs take on the Iowa State Cyclones at noon.