Soccer Falls 2-0 To No. 20 Texas A&M

Friday, October 23

College Station, Texas

6 p.m.

Colorado

8-8-0, 5-3-0Big 12

Texas A&M

11-5-1, 5-2-1Big 12

Colorado

Texas A&M

Photo by: Chip Bromfield, ProMotion Ltd.

October 23, 2009 | Soccer

Box Score

By: Allie Musso, Assistant SID

COLLEGE STATION, Texas - The University of Colorado women's soccer team continues to struggle on the road and suffered a 2-0 loss to No. 20 Texas A&M here Friday night.

Texas A&M (11-5-1, 5-2-1 Big 12) played to its 17th victory over Colorado in 19 tries and the Buffs fell to 8-8-0 overall and 5-3-0 in Big 12 play.

The Aggies, who have historically proven to be a difficult opponent for the Buffs, got off to an early start by scoring the first goal of the match less than three minutes in. Alyssa Mautz took a pass from Katie Hamilton at the top of the box and fired a hard shot into the upper left corner of the goal, beyond the reach of CU goalkeeper Kara Linder, for the early 1-0 lead.

Senior Nikki Marshall nearly got on the board for the Buffs in the 13th minute when she found herself in a one-on-one situation with Aggie goalkeeper Kelly Dyer. Marshall went for an easy chip over the keeper's head, but after gaining strong momentum, she found it hard to control her shot and missed wide right of the goal.

The CU offense continued to pressure the Aggie defense as freshman Erin Bricker challenged an Aggie defender and managed to get the Buffs a corner kick opportunity. Sophomore Caroline Danneberg took the kick and sent a high cross into the middle of the box. Senior forward Kelly Menachof extended and got her head on it but the ball hit the top of the crossbar and bounced behind the goal and out of bounds.

The Aggies would strike again in the 34th minute on a goal from Hamilton, who assisted the first A&M goal. Hamilton received a pass from Chelsea Jones just inside the 18. She needed just one touch and then took a sliding shot and buried the ball inside the left goal post for the two-goal lead just before half time.

Texas A&M outshot the Buffaloes 13 to nine in the first half recorded six shots on goal to CU's three.

Colorado nearly converted a Marshall-to-Marshall goal in the 80th minute as Nikki Marshall dished a pass out to her un-marked sister Shaye Marshall in front of the goal, but her shot was blocked and sent back into play by a Texas A&M defender.

Although the Buffaloes held the Aggies scoreless in the second half, they were unable to find the back of the net and Texas A&M's two goals in the first half proved to be enough to hold on for the win. TAMU outshot the Buffs 19 to 14 and Colorado's defense only allowed one shot on goal in the second half compared to six in the first half. Nikki Marshall led all Buffs with four shots, including two on goal.

"We're always judged on wins and losses. Nobody cares if we play well at this point," said head coach Bill Hempen. "We're playing well, but we're not finding that way to win. We always come out and play hard, that's never an issue, but when it really comes down to making a difference, we're not able to.

"It's sad because we have a great group but we're just not finding ways to slide tackle or dive through the crowd to get a head on the ball and go that extra step. I don't think we play with enough of a chip on our shoulder like football did last week, which certainly made a huge difference with what they were able to do. Again, we played well, but if you don't have that little bit of edge that some programs have over us, we're always going to just miss."

Colorado will now head west to Austin and face the University of Texas at noon on Sunday, Oct. 25 for CU's final regular season road test. Texas, despite an early Texas Tech 2-0 lead, is coming off a 2-2 tie with the Red Raiders tonight. Live stats and free live video will be provided at www.texassports.com.

Check out the latest news and highlights with head coach Bill Hempen on the Buffalo Stampede: Soccer Edition exclusively on BuffsTV at cubuffs.com/soccer. New shows air every Tuesday. Simply click on the media player on the right hand side of the CU Soccer homepage for free insight into Colorado Soccer.