Soccer Tops Utah 2-1

Friday, September 11

Boulder, Colo.

4 p.m.

Colorado

4-2-0

Utah

5-3-0

Utah

Colorado

Photo by: CUBuffs.com

September 11, 2009 | Soccer

Box Score

By: Aaron Lopez, Denver Nuggets

BOULDER - The University of Colorado women's soccer team notched a 2-1 victory over the University of Utah here Friday.

With the win, Colorado improves to 4-2 overall, while the Utes fall to 5-3.

"Our forwards weren't effective today and they looked tired," said head coach Bill Hempen. "Even though I know they were giving it their all, they just couldn't capitalize today. We ended up getting two goals from our defenders, which is good, but next time we would like to see one of our forwards put one in."

The Buffs got off to a strong start and took the 1-0 lead seven minutes into the game. Defender Kelly Ross took possession from the Utes and played a ball forward to Lauren Shaner. Shaner sent the ball to Kassidy Fitzpatrick down the line and Fitzpatrick beat her defender and played the ball to Erin Bricker inside the Utes box. Bricker one-touched it towards the center of the goal to Ross who stayed with the play and fired the ball past the Utah goalkeeper in the upper-right hand side of the net for the Buffalo lead and the first goal of her career.

"It was such a rush [scoring her first career goal]," said Ross. "As soon as I saw the ball get to [Erin] Bricker I noticed she had nowhere to turn so she let the ball through and I just hit it as hard as I could. I stood up and saw that I had scored, it was definitely a really great feeling."

The Buffaloes dominated the first half statistics, outshooting the Utes six to four. Colorado recorded four shots on goal to Utah's two.

Utah would tie things up in the 55th minute when Lauren Hair took the ball down towards the Colorado box and passed it into the middle of the goal to Erin Dalley. Dalley one-touched it into the back of the net, tying the game at 1-1 with 35 minutes left to play.

Colorado would finally strike again and take the lead back with just under three minutes left to play. Sophomore Kate Russell took a direct kick about four yards outside the Utah goal box. Defender Mary White headed the initial cross and while the Utes attempted to clear it out, defender Kym Lowry squeezed in the box and put the ball away in the back of the net for what proved to be the eventual game-winner for the Buffs.

Utah finished the match outshooting Colorado 14-13, but the Buffs were able to get six shots on goal to the Utes' five. Both CU's Kara Linder and UU's Hannah Turpen recorded four saves each in goal.

"We were working hard today," said Lowry. "After our first goal we started to relax and it ended up hurting us and giving Utah several opportunities. We played well, but we know we need to play with more energy against Florida.

"It is going to be a big challenge traveling to the east coast. Florida is a tough team; it should be a great challenge. Our schedule has really helped us progress this year, most of our opponents have played us really tough and with more difficult teams ahead, we will only get better."

Colorado will wrap up the weekend on Sunday, Sept. 13 in Gainesville, Fla. when the Buffaloes take on No. 14 Florida. Fans who wish to follow the action live, visit www.gatorzone.com/soccer for more information. CU will not be back in Boulder until Friday, Sept. 25 when the Buffs kick off the Big 12 Conference season, playing host to Nebraska at 4 p.m.

BuffsTV update: Due to technical difficulties during the live feed of the game, the full video replay is now available and linked to this article.