No. 1 UCLA Scores Twice In Second Half To Down Buffs

Friday, September 22

Boulder, Colo.

3:30 PM

Colorado

6-2-2, 0-1-0Pac-12

UCLA

8-0-1, 1-0-0Pac-12

UCLA

Colorado

Photo by: CUBuffs.com

September 22, 2017 | Soccer

Box Score

By: Andy Schlichting, Assistant SID

BOULDER - No. 1 UCLA scored two second-half goals to pull away for a 2-0 win at Colorado on Friday afternoon. The Buffs dropped to 6-2-2 overall, while the Bruins improved to 8-0-1. It was the Pac-12 opener for both schools.

HOW IT HAPPENED: The two teams played an even first half with just six total shot attempts before halftime. Each team had one good scoring change and both goalkeepers made one save.

UCLA was awarded a penalty kick in the 50th minute after a handball in the box was called, but Jalen Tompkins made a diving save to her right to stop the shot by Anika Rodriguez.

The Bruins got on the board nine minutes later as Rodriguez centered a ball in front of the goal and Ashley Sanchez pushed it in with one touch.

In the 62nd minute, CU had back-to-back corner kicks and both plays were controversial as Taylor Kornieck went down hard on the first one and the second one appeared to deflect off a UCLA player's hand, but no foul was called in either situation.

Sanchez then set up the second goal, centering a pass to the middle of the box for Sunny Dunphy, who scored her first goal of the season.

KEY STATISTICS: The Bruins pulled the momentum their way in the second half, outshooting CU 14-1 in the final 45 minutes. Tompkins finished with seven saves in the match.

NOTES: CU drops to 0-7 all-time against No. 1-ranked teams ... the Bruins avenged their loss from last season when CU upset then-No. 9-ranked UCLA in Boulder 1-0.

UP NEXT: Colorado will travel to Washington State for a 6:30 p.m. match in Pullman on Thursday.

POSTMATCH QUOTES:
Danny Sanchez, head coach

On performance against the top ranked team in the country (general)…
"Obviously, (UCLA) is the number one team in the country for a reason. You can see their quality on the ball and into the final third. Up until we gave up the first goal in the 59^th minute, I think they only had one shot on goal. We were defending well. Obviously JJ [Tompkins] dealt with the penalty. Once we gave up the goal, the game started to get stretched and you could see their quality as there was more space for them to operate. I'm proud of the effort, they compete. Like I told our team, it just wasn't our day. Things have to go our way. The second goal kind of broke our spirit, but then we turned around and Taylor [Kornieck] puts a rocket off the post, and if it's 1-0… You need things to kind of go your way in a game like this and unfortunately it didn't. All the credit goes to UCLA. Obviously they're a quality team, but like I told the team, we have to get ready for Washington State on Thursday."

On missed hand-ball call on CU scoring opportunity…
"Like I told the team, we will never, ever make the excuse of officials. The better team usually wins. Close calls like that, over 20 games, tend to even out. So today we didn't get that call, maybe another day we get the call. But we'll never make excuses for that. We didn't do enough to win the game at the end of the day."

On Jalen Tompkins save on UCLA's penalty kick
"She kept us in the game today. She's probably a little disappointed with the second goal, but that was kind of a tricky, spinning ball. But she kept us in the game early with the penalty save and a couple other saves. We didn't do enough on the attack, and when you defend for so long and all the sudden you want to turn it on and push forward, it's tough."

On UCLA taking control in late first half/ early second half…
"When you're giving up that much possession, especially after we gave up the goal and we had to push numbers forward, then we were down numbers in the midfield. We knew we were going to have to concede, but we had to take some chances at that point. I thought we did okay until the goal in the 85^th minute."

On containing UCLA star Hailie Mace…
"She's so explosive and at the end of the game she's playing holding center-mid, she's so versatile. I thought we dealt with her very well. She had one good chance towards the end of the first half I believe, but other than that I thought we did a really good job on her."

On Alex Vidger's red card…
"It's a little unfortunate because obviously we were pushing numbers forward and she lost the ball in the midfield, and what you want to do is stop the counterattack. She was just doing what she's taught to do. Unfortunately she had picked up a yellow card earlier so it was a little unlucky. She'll miss Washington State and she'll be back for Washington. It didn't affect the game, but obviously it'll affect our depth against Washington State."

On containing UCLA star Jessie Fleming…
"I thought we did a good job. She's all over the place. She pops into seams. I think we only really lost her once in the first half, so I thought we did a really good job on her. You don't see a lot of players like her that work both sides of the ball, but also have her quality in the final third."