Friday, October 13
Los Angeles, Calif.
5:00 PM
Colorado
7-5-3, 1-4-1
0
at
2
USC
11-1-1, 5-0-1
1
2
F
Colorado
0
0
0
Southern California
2
0
2
Photo by: Grey Gibbs
Buffs Concede Twice Early In 2-0 Loss At No. 6 USC
October 13, 2017 | Soccer
LOS ANGELES – Colorado surrendered two early goals and suffered a 2-0 defeat on the road at No. 6 Southern California on Friday night at McAlister Field. The loss dropped to CU to 7-5-3 overall and 1-4-1 in the Pac-12, while the Women of Troy improved to 11-1-1 and 5-0-1 with their fifth straight win.
HOW IT HAPPENED: CU had a great chance in the second minute when Becca Rasmussen ripped a shot on goal from the top of the box. Her rebound off the save deflected to Megan Massey, but she missed a wide-open net from 10 yards.
USC capitalized just four minutes later when Alex Anthony's one-touch shot with her right foot on a centering pass from the right corner by Tara McKeown deflected off the crossbar and in for a goal.
The Women of Troy scored again in the 17th minute as Sydney Sladek got in for a breakaway after a through ball from the center of the field by Savannah DeMelo. Sladek finished her shot from the right side of the box to the far post, past a charging Jalen Tompkins.
Despite the slow start, the Buffs played evenly with USC over the final hour of play, but had nothing to show on the scoreboard.
They nearly got a goal out of two opportunities in the 84th and 85th minutes. The first came as Becca Rasmussen centered a ball to the middle of the box and Marty Puketapu put a one-touch shot on goal. Moments later, Cassie Phillips found space in the center of the field and ripped a rocket off the crossbar from 25 yards out.
KEY STATISTICS: Tompkins made six saves for CU in goal, her second-highest total this season. The Buffs were outshot 23-9 and had three shots on goal.
NOTES: USC, the defending national champion, is now unbeaten in 10 straight matches and extended its winning streak to five ... CU has now dropped three in a row—all to nationally-ranked teams, including two top-10 opponents ... CU dropped to 3-6-0 all-time against USC, but is 3-3 over the past six meetings ... of the remaining five opponents on CU's schedule, only one (Arizona, 5-4-3) has a winning record ... CU has played four top-20 opponents, including three top 10, in the past three weeks.
UP NEXT: The Buffs return home for their final homestand of the season. They host Arizona State at 3 p.m. on Thursday and Arizona at 1 p.m. on Sunday, which will be Senior Day.
POSTGAME QUOTES:
Danny Sanchez, head coach
On the match
"We talked a lot about getting a fast start and we did actually. Megan had a great opportunity in the second minute on the rebound. And we turned around and gave up a goal and at that point, we were chasing the game. We relaxed a bit and were down 2-0 before we knew it. Having said that, I was really pleased with what we did in the second half. I thought we came out with a lot of energy, had some good opportunities, Cassie hit the crossbar. We needed to find a goal to make it a game, but unfortunately we didn't do that. However, the effort, the focus, the energy were very good. So we have to try to build on that as we face the Arizona schools next weekend."
On what led to trailing 2-0 early
"You can see some quality in [USC's] movement and we were just too passive in our defending and our shape and they had too much of the ball when we were chasing the game and got down 2-0.
On the play in the second half
"I thought in the second half, we pressured the ball more, we played with more energy. Our fitness was fantastic. I thought that the players that played competed all the way until the end. Once again, we didn't get anything out of the game, but we're going to try to focus on the positives. The positives are we played well in the second half and are back at home next weekend."
On Taylor Kornieck
"I thought Taylor was fantastic. I'm sure she's a little frustrated to not get on the end of anything, but her two-way play was great. She was getting in the box, she was defending in our box, she was attacking back and defending in the midfield. I thought she was great on both sides of the ball and did a lot of work and a lot of running, it was just unfortunate she couldn't get on the end of things and close to the goal."
On returning home for two matches next week
"It's our last regular-season home games of the year so we have to take advantage of being at home with two very good teams coming in. Arizona State has similar results in conference to us. This is a team that lost 2-1 to USC late last week. Obviously Arizona is having a fantastic season, in conference play especially with some good results. We have to be ready to play, but we're excited to be home and excited to honor our seniors on Sunday. Hopefully we can get some results and build some momentum with the results on the scoreboard, not just in our play."
HOW IT HAPPENED: CU had a great chance in the second minute when Becca Rasmussen ripped a shot on goal from the top of the box. Her rebound off the save deflected to Megan Massey, but she missed a wide-open net from 10 yards.
USC capitalized just four minutes later when Alex Anthony's one-touch shot with her right foot on a centering pass from the right corner by Tara McKeown deflected off the crossbar and in for a goal.
The Women of Troy scored again in the 17th minute as Sydney Sladek got in for a breakaway after a through ball from the center of the field by Savannah DeMelo. Sladek finished her shot from the right side of the box to the far post, past a charging Jalen Tompkins.
Despite the slow start, the Buffs played evenly with USC over the final hour of play, but had nothing to show on the scoreboard.
They nearly got a goal out of two opportunities in the 84th and 85th minutes. The first came as Becca Rasmussen centered a ball to the middle of the box and Marty Puketapu put a one-touch shot on goal. Moments later, Cassie Phillips found space in the center of the field and ripped a rocket off the crossbar from 25 yards out.
KEY STATISTICS: Tompkins made six saves for CU in goal, her second-highest total this season. The Buffs were outshot 23-9 and had three shots on goal.
NOTES: USC, the defending national champion, is now unbeaten in 10 straight matches and extended its winning streak to five ... CU has now dropped three in a row—all to nationally-ranked teams, including two top-10 opponents ... CU dropped to 3-6-0 all-time against USC, but is 3-3 over the past six meetings ... of the remaining five opponents on CU's schedule, only one (Arizona, 5-4-3) has a winning record ... CU has played four top-20 opponents, including three top 10, in the past three weeks.
UP NEXT: The Buffs return home for their final homestand of the season. They host Arizona State at 3 p.m. on Thursday and Arizona at 1 p.m. on Sunday, which will be Senior Day.
POSTGAME QUOTES:
Danny Sanchez, head coach
On the match
"We talked a lot about getting a fast start and we did actually. Megan had a great opportunity in the second minute on the rebound. And we turned around and gave up a goal and at that point, we were chasing the game. We relaxed a bit and were down 2-0 before we knew it. Having said that, I was really pleased with what we did in the second half. I thought we came out with a lot of energy, had some good opportunities, Cassie hit the crossbar. We needed to find a goal to make it a game, but unfortunately we didn't do that. However, the effort, the focus, the energy were very good. So we have to try to build on that as we face the Arizona schools next weekend."
On what led to trailing 2-0 early
"You can see some quality in [USC's] movement and we were just too passive in our defending and our shape and they had too much of the ball when we were chasing the game and got down 2-0.
On the play in the second half
"I thought in the second half, we pressured the ball more, we played with more energy. Our fitness was fantastic. I thought that the players that played competed all the way until the end. Once again, we didn't get anything out of the game, but we're going to try to focus on the positives. The positives are we played well in the second half and are back at home next weekend."
On Taylor Kornieck
"I thought Taylor was fantastic. I'm sure she's a little frustrated to not get on the end of anything, but her two-way play was great. She was getting in the box, she was defending in our box, she was attacking back and defending in the midfield. I thought she was great on both sides of the ball and did a lot of work and a lot of running, it was just unfortunate she couldn't get on the end of things and close to the goal."
On returning home for two matches next week
"It's our last regular-season home games of the year so we have to take advantage of being at home with two very good teams coming in. Arizona State has similar results in conference to us. This is a team that lost 2-1 to USC late last week. Obviously Arizona is having a fantastic season, in conference play especially with some good results. We have to be ready to play, but we're excited to be home and excited to honor our seniors on Sunday. Hopefully we can get some results and build some momentum with the results on the scoreboard, not just in our play."
Team Stats
COLO
USC
Goals
0
2
Shots
9
23
Shots on Goal
3
8
Saves
6
3
Corners
3
5
Fouls
9
9
Scoring Plays
Anthony, Alex (5)
Assisted By: McKeown, Tara
shot inside the box off feed from right
5:33
Sladek, Sydney (1)
Assisted By: DeMelo, Savannah
slotted to far left post off feed from #
16:55
Game Leaders
Players
Shots
2
SOG
2
Goals
0
Assists
0
Shots
2
SOG
0
Goals
0
Assists
0
Shots
1
SOG
0
Goals
0
Assists
0
Shots
1
SOG
0
Goals
0
Assists
0
Players Mentioned
M
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