Soccer Upsets No. 14 Utah 2-1 in Salt Lake City

Sunday, September 10

Salt Lake City, Utah

1 p.m.

Colorado

4-1-1

Utah

4-2-0

Colorado

Utah

Photo by: CUBuffs.com

September 10, 2006 | Soccer

Box Score

By: Lindsay Lew, Associate SID

SALT LAKE CITY - The No. 21 University of Colorado women's soccer team posted their fourth win of the season here Sunday afternoon, defeating the No. 14 University of Utah 2-1 in come-from-behind fashion.

It was CU's second come-from-behind effort in as many games. The Buffs weren't able to pull off the win on Friday against No. 22 BYU, but today their work was enough to earn a victory. Head Coach Bill Hempen credited history for the work that led to the successful effort today.

"I'm going to give credit to the kids from 2001 for this win," said Hempen. "Back then, we were 3-11-2, and people kept coming up to me and saying, ?You know coach you are playing well but you are still losing.' That was the initial time we learned that we have to play hard at all costs. If we are putting on that Colorado jersey, we have to play hard and we have to finish. That 2001 group started it, it was carried on with that next recruiting class, and it's been maintained. The senior class this year has demanded it."

The Utes got on the board first at the 16:00 mark. Amanda Feigt played the ball to Hailey Marsh on the left side of the Colorado defense. Marsh hit a well-struck ball left footed diagonally into the upper right hand corner. CU freshman goalkeeper Kara Linder couldn't quite reach the shot, as Marsh hit a high bending ball just out of her reach to give Utah a 1-0 lead.

Colorado had their opportunities to equalize in the first half, with nine shots, forcing two saves. Linder came up with four saves on BYU's 10 shots in the first half before being replaced by sophomore Kristin Radlinski at the half.

"We knew we were the better team today, and coming off a loss on Friday we wanted to come out and do our best to not let it happen again despite being down a goal," said senior Katie Griffin. "It wasn't pretty, but we played with a lot of heart."

The game featured mostly scrappy play with not a lot of flow or patterns of play to speak of. It became apparent that the team that worked harder was going to come out with the result. CU's hard work would pay off soon into the second half as Colorado would even things up just over 16 minutes in. Freshman defender Jess Quador won a header out of the back, which she cleared to Griffin. Griffin received the ball at midfield in the Colorado half, turned and saw Nikki Marshall up top. She struck a long ball through the Utah defense that Marshall ran onto. Marshall took a touch to the side past Utah goalkeeper Ashley Mason and toe poked it into the lower right corner of the Utah net at the 61:54 mark of the game.

"I think losing Friday was good for us," said Marshall. "I mean obviously we don't want to lose but it tested us. There is so much more motivation for us as a result of that. We didn't want to lose again when we got behind. It just comes down to heart, and today we had more heart than they did."

The go-ahead goal would come as a result of the defensive attention to Marshall. Senior Allie True played a ball in the air to Marshall, who was inside the box. As the ball floated in, Marshall was waiting to chest trap it and was hit from behind at the top of the box and knocked to the ground, giving Colorado a penalty kick. Griffin would step up and hammer the penalty kick home at 68:58, giving the Buffs the lead for good on her first goal of the season.

"That ?never give up' mentality is finally taking a hold on the team and becoming a part of the culture of CU soccer," said Hempen. Because we're just not dotted with national team caliber players in the minds of the people that make those decisions...this team, they are just trying to play as hard as they can for long as they can. I couldn't be more proud of them.

"We have good players we don't have great players, and they are players that try hard. There will be days we lose a game like this one but hopefully they will keep trying. To come into this game playing the team that is ranked 14th, it's a pretty big deal to come in and win and on their field, and to do it with underclassmen on the field. With lots of freshmen on the field."

Marshall continued her record-setting goal scoring streak, netting the game-tying goal for her seventh goal of the season. It marks the fourth game in a row that the freshman has scored, a new school record, breaking the mark previously held by five different Buffaloes. Griffin got her first goal of the season, as well as her first assist of the season. It was Griffin's 28th career goal and 10th career assist. Colorado is now 4-1 all time against Utah and have won the last four in a row.

Colorado will return home this weekend to take on in-state rival Denver on Friday, Sept. 15 at 4 p.m. at Prentup Field. Admission and parking are free.