Buffs Tie Colorado State In Season Opener

Friday, August 21

Fort Collins, Colo.

5:00 PM

Colorado

0-0-1

Colorado State (Colorado Cup)

0-0-1

OT 5

OT 6

Colorado

Colorado State

Photo by: CUBuffs.com

August 21, 2015 | Soccer

Box Score

By: Ashley Braun, Assistant SID

FORT COLLINS – The University of Colorado women's soccer team played to a 1-1 draw against Colorado State here Friday evening in its season opener at Lagoon Field.

The Buffaloes (0-0-1) fell behind early in the match when Colorado State forward Hannah Gerdin connected with midfielder Erika Bratschun to put the Rams up 1-0 in the eighth minute. Bratschun put her shot past CU goalkeeper Kate Scheele to tally her first goal of the season.

"All the credit to Colorado State," said Colorado head coach Danny Sanchez. "They came out sharp, had a couple chances early. They had one great chance on the goal and they finished it. Once you do that in front of a big crowd on the road, you dig yourself a hole. After maybe the first 20 minutes, I was relatively pleased with how we played. I thought we played with some urgency, created quite a few chances."

After getting off to a slow start and surrendering the goal, Colorado looked to be more relaxed and pressured the Rams' defense with a steady attack, led by juniors Brie Hooks and Danica Evans. Evans, making her CU debut, recorded seven shots and put four on goal and Hooks also had seven shots with two on frame.

The Buffaloes outshot the Rams 13-5 in the first half and 24-8 in the match, but it wasn't until late in the second half that CU was able to find the equalizer to force overtime.

Sophomore Joss Orejel blasted a corner kick into the box from the right side. The ball took a bounce, landed at Hooks' feet, who booted it toward the corner of the goal. Her shot deflected off a CSU (0-0-1) defender and found an opening to tie the contest at 1-1 with less than nine minutes to play in regulation. The goal was Hooks' first of the season and 17th of her career, which is tied for sixth-most all-time in the CU record book.

"Joss played a good ball in and saw it bounce out and thought, I am going to kick it as hard as I could. [Being] that close in, you just have to give it all you got and find a corner. That's what I tried to do and luckily it went in."

Once the match entered overtime, CU put together a few shots, forcing Colorado State goalkeeper Jesse McGinley to make three saves. Freshman Sarah Kinzner, who started in her first collegiate match, sent a shot on frame in the 97th minute, but McGinley was able to hang on as both teams were held scoreless in the extra sessions.

"We created quite a few chances, but there definitely wasn't enough sharpness in the final third," Sanchez said. "I think what started happening was players started to do too much on their own and not trusting their teammates and that's from trying, not from a lack of trying, so we'll regroup and get ready for Sunday."

The Buffs are unbeaten in their last 12 season openers, posting an 8-0-4 mark and remain undefeated against the Rams with a 1-0-1 record in two meetings.

Colorado returns to the pitch on Sunday, Aug. 23 to face Colorado College in its home opener at Prentup Field. The Buffs will host two matches (Air Force vs. Northern Colorado and Colorado State vs. Denver) earlier in the day as part of Colorado Cup weekend before they take the field at 3:30 p.m. MDT. Tickets are $5 each and will allow entry into all three matches