Posts tagged shooting
CU soccer: Finally—a win over DU
Nov 17th
DENVER – The University of Colorado soccer team finally tasted victory over No. 15 and fourth-seeded Denver when it was most important – in the first round of the 2013 NCAA Women’s Soccer Championship.
With less than seven minutes remaining in regulation, senior standout Anne Stuller netted the game-winner to give the Buffs’ the 1-0 victory.
In Stuller and her fellow seniors’ time at CU, the Buffs had never gotten a win over their in-state rival Denver. That changed Saturday in front of a crowd of 1,394 at Denver’s CIBER Field. In just their third win in Denver, the Buffs reclaim the slight series edge over the Pioneers, 9-8-1. The Buffs are now a perfect 2-0 against the Pioneers in NCAA play.
The Buffs got further revenge on the Pioneers after DU claimed a 3-0 win at CIBER Field earlier in the season to put an end to the Buffs’ recording-setting start of six wins to begin the 2013 campaign.
After remaining winless in their final four games of the season, the Buffs improve to 13-6-2 overall (after finishing tied for sixth in the Pac-12 Conference with a league mark of 4-5-2). CU advances to the Round of 32 for the first time since 2007 (when the Buffs fell to No. 3 Portland in the second round of tournament play). The win was the Buffs’ first over a ranked opponent since 2010, when the squad took down No. 12 UCLA and No. 6 Texas A&M in back-to-back games.
Denver suffers just its second loss of the season, falling to 18-2-1 as its impressive season is put to an end.
“First, I want to congratulate Denver on a great season,” CU head coach Danny Sanchez said. “They’re worthy of the four seed they got. They had a great season pre-conference and during the conference. As far as the match today, like I told the team, we’re really proud of what this team has accomplished. Last year they finished tied for last place in the Pac-12. They’ve really bought in and done everything we’ve asked them. We’re really proud, especially of our four senior starters, but really everybody. We’re really pleased that we’re able to represent the University of Colorado on this stage.
“Today’s match could have gone either way. I felt both teams played very well. Big moments take special players, and Anne Stuller’s a special player. She came up and made the play when we needed it. Brunner and Lizzy (Herzl) and Hayley (Hughes) and Bianca (Jones) and Alex (Huynh) were rock solid in the back against Kristin Hamilton and Nicholette DiGiacomo and all their dynamic attacking players. We’re just real, real happy to have the opportunity to move on to Florida next week.”
The Buffs just edged the Pioneers in nearly every category. CU outshot DU 15 to 13 (with six on goal to DU’s three). CU also took three more corner kicks (seven to four), helping set up more shooting opportunities at the net. The Buffs’ backline held DU’s two leading scorers and record-breaking seniors Kristen Hamilton and Nicholette DiaGiacomo (who helped Denver become one of just 16 Division I teams with multiple double-digit scorers) to just three shots combined, with none on goal.
In the 84th minute, Brie Hooks was fouled just outside the left corner of the box, setting up the free kick that would give the Buffs the game. Stuller, who’s become known for her killer strike, bent her shot over the wall of defenders, getting the ball to deflect and reach the far post.
“That was all Brie,” Stuller said of the free kick setup that led to the goal. “She’d been putting the defense on their toes all night. She’s so dangerous out of the midfield; she’s really dangerous anywhere. She just came up and attacked the defenders and created a foul. Hats off to her – that was big time by her.”
Stuller, who says her team has been a “treat to play with” and fights every game, continues to shine in her senior season. She adds to her CU single season records with 89 shots and 52 shots on goal. Stuller also ties Katie Griffin for second most points in single season at CU, with 25.
In what has been her best season to date, goalkeeper and co-captain Annie Brunner grabbed three saves and posted her ninth clean sheet of the season, her career-best. She and 2003 Big 12 Championship team member Jessica Keller are the only two Buffs to have at least nine shutouts in a single season. Brunner is now the second-winningest keeper in program history with 32 in her career. Brunner has contributed to 24 shutouts in her career, and in 2013 has posted career-best season totals of 78 saves, a 3.71 save percentage and 0.98 goals-against average.
“I knew it was going to come down to a one-goal game,” Brunner said. “Going into the game, I was just on extreme focus like, ‘Hey I’m going to make one big save this game, maybe two, and we’re going to get one and that’s how we’ll win the game.’ Sure enough, DU started putting a lot of pressure on us in the back and that’s just when you’ve got to step up. Our defense did great blocking shots, and I just had to save a couple of them and that’s how you win.”
In the opening minutes of the game, the Buffs worked to press the net, getting two corner kicks, though the Denver defense prevented them from any looks at the net.
Denver took the first shot of the game in the fourth minute. A wide Nikki Pappalardo found Francesca Garzelloni at the front of the net, but Hayley Hughes forced the ball wide. Hughes was at it again, this time on offense, finding her shot blocked in the 10th minute. The Pioneers continued to make moves in the opening 15 minutes, with DiGiacomo finding an open look in front of the net, but blasting the ball out of the park.
After focusing on defense, the Buffs finally got back into Pioneer territory, with Hooks responding to DiGiacomo, but rushing her shot wide. The Buffs had one of their best opportunities of the half in the 18th minute. From deep left, Hooks found Emily Paxton at the right. Paxton sent a through ball to Stuller at the right post. Stuller aimed her shot at the net, forcing DU keeper Cassidy Rey to dive for the ball at the far post. Though the ball remained in play, a DU defender came into the net to clear the ball.
In the 25th minute, the Pioneers got another opportunity when Pappalardo beat her defender to get the ball in front of the net. After a few touches, Garzelloni hit just over the crossbar.
The Buffs dominated offensively in the final 15 minutes before the break. In the 34th minute, Hooks found her target and made Rey claim her second save. Following a hard foul on Madison Krauser, the Buffs got a free kick off from about 40 yards deep off a late call. Though DU initially got the ball, CU recovered, and Stuller got blocked at the net. CU would take another shot and corner in the final six minutes, but were unable to get a shot past the DU defense.
In the final two minutes before the break, the teams traded free kicks from midfield. DiGiacomo got another shot off for the Pioneers, but the game would remain scoreless at the half. (The Buffs are now 7-5-1 this season when entering halftime in a scoreless tie).
Stuller once again began the half with tough offensive pressure, forcing a corner kick that got to Paxton, whose shot went wide. Though Denver spent a lot of time in CU territory, they were only able to get one shot off and take one corner in the first 10 minutes, though their shot was a big one. In the 51st minute, a CU turnover in front of the DU net nearly cost them a goal. With lots of action and players going down in the box, Brunner grabbed a great save of a Garzelloni shot. The Buffs had several other strong defensive plays, with Bianca Jones helping the Buffs get a goal kick following a DU corner.
CU then went on a shooting spree, taking five shots and three corners in less than 12 minutes, while holding DU to playing defense. The Buffs played together in the 58th minute, with Jerman getting a good read to set up a play that would find Krauser at the left edge. Krasuer rushed in and shot, getting the ball to the center of the net, where Rey grabbed the save. Krauser was at it again just two minutes later, hitting the ball wide this time.
In the 64th minute, Jerman and Brooke Rice worked together to get Jerman in front of the net. She took a close range shot that was saved by Rey’s finger tips. The Buffs then got a corner, and Lizzy Herzl’s header got blocked. The Buffs kept up the pressure, with Jerman this time getting blocked. The Buffs got two more corner kicks, but Denver was finally ready to get on the attack.
It wasn’t until the 72nd minute when DU’s Hamilton was able to take her first (and only) shot. She got an open look from close range, but Brunner was ready as the shot went high. Denver was able to attack again at 75:01, with Pappalardo forcing a save from close range. The Pioneers continued to make the Buffs’ defense work, forcing another great save from Brunner in the 79th minute.
Then, the momentum began to turn the other way, as Denver got back to back fouls that would help spur the Buffs’ scoring drive. In the 81st minute, Alex Huynh took a free kick that was an easy grab for Rey. DU would reclaim possession and get a free kick from 25 yards out, but the Buffs’ came up with big back-to-back blocks.
CU would then rush from one side to the other, with Hooks, who was forcing a lot of aggressive plays out of the DU defense, going down just outside the left corner of the box. Stuller would put her golden boot to use to shoot over the wall and score off a deflection to give the Buffs the 1-0 lead.
“If I strike the ball cleanly and if I get it over the wall, there’s a good chance it’s going to get a rebound or go in,” Stuller said. “That was my focus – just getting over the wall, but not getting over the net. That’s what I try to do when I hit the ball.”
Denver would send everyone forward in the final six minutes, taking three more shots and two corners, but the Buffs would hold strong in the closing minutes to claim the win.
CU joins UCLA and Stanford as the only Pac-12 teams to advance to the Round of 32. With the win over Denver, and a loss by Colorado College on Saturday, CU is also the only in-state team to advance. CU will travel to Tallahassee, Fla. to take on BYU (15-4-1), who defeated Weber State 4-0 in their first round, on Friday, Nov. 22. Though the teams have never met on neutral ground, BYU holds a 3-0-1 lead over CU.
“They’re very good,” Sanchez said. “They’re co-champions in the West Coast Conference, which is one of the top leagues. Obviously I’m familiar with them from back in the Mountain West days. They’re very athletic. They’re very direct. They’re very good. They were probably border line to get a seed as well this year. We know the challenge of that. We’ve actually watched a little bit of them hoping that we’d have the opportunity to advance and face them. We know they’re a great team with a great coach – Jennifer Rockwood’s been there since the start of the program. They’re a perennial tournament team, and we’ll have our hands full, but we’ll start worrying about them tomorrow at practice.”
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Marlee Horn
Graduate Assistant SID
University of Colorado
Ugly Or Not, Buffs Finally Get ‘W’ vs. Wyoming
Nov 14th
Contributing editor
BOULDER – Tad Boyle likes it fast, Larry Shyatt likes it slow. The hare finally took down the tortoise Wednesday night, but it was hardly the hoops version of the Indy 500 and it was anything but picturesque.
Boyle’s Colorado Buffs, perennial losers to Shyatt’s Wyoming Cowboys, encountered nearly night-long difficulty finding offensive consistency. But the Buffs dialed up their defense in the second half, hit their free throws when needed and exited the Coors Events Center with what Boyle labeled a homely 63-58 win.
“If you guys are looking for the definition of the phrase ‘winning ugly’ I think you saw it tonight,” he said afterward. “It wasn’t pretty, it wasn’t our best effort, but I was really proud of our guys for finding a way down the stretch to win the game.
“I’ve got a lot of respect for Larry Shyatt, the University of Wyoming and their program. They play us tough every year and it was good to get a win against them. It wasn’t easy, it wasn’t pretty but we’ll take it, we’ll learn and we’ll move on and we’ll get better. I’ve said many times you’d rather learn from a win than learn from a loss and I think our players understand that.”
The Cowboys – staunch believers in low-possession, low-scoring games – had defeated the Buffs six straight times. Payback came Wednesday night, but it didn’t come easily for CU, which trailed by 10 points in the first half and got its final seven points on free throws (7-of-12) in the game’s last 3:06. The Buffs hit 24-of-34 free throws for the game to the Cowboys’ 11-of-15.
Junior Spencer Dinwiddie made five of his eight free throw attempts during the final 3:06, finishing with a team-high 15 points. He was 10-of-13 from the free throw line, taking all of his foul shots in the second half, when the Buffs rallied from a 31-26 deficit at intermission largely on their performance on the defensive end.
“We’ve gone 0-3 against (Wyoming) since I’ve been here,” Dinwiddie said. “It was a big game for us. I know I said earlier they aren’t a rival and I stick by that. But at the same time they are a really big game. Really, anything is a big game; we’re glad we won.”
Three other Buffs starters backed up Dinwiddie with double-figure scoring efforts – Askia Booker with 14, Xavier Johnson with 13 and Josh Scott with 12. The Buffs outrebounded the Cowboys 35-24, with Scott grabbing nine boards and Dinwiddie adding seven.
With Wyoming switching defenses and forcing CU to attack a zone and get to the free throw line for the bulk of its offense, the Buffs managed only four assists in 40 minutes. It was CU’s lowest total since having just two in a 1977 game at Jacksonville in a one-point win. CU’s bench was outscored by Wyoming’s 16-3, which Boyle attributed in part to his “shortening” his bench in the second half due to most of his top reserves being freshmen.
CU shot 40 percent (18-of-45) for the game but held Wyoming to 38.1 percent (8-of-21) in the second half – and that, noted Boyle, was key.
“In the second half, the defense was the difference in the game,” he said, adding that his team gave up nine layups in the first half – two more than its goal for the game. “We gave up three layups in the second half . . . when we ran our offense and executed our offense, we shot 50 percent in the second half and those are good numbers.”
Guard Josh Adams, of Parker, Colo., led Wyoming with 15 points, followed by Larry Nance Jr. with 10. Adams said the Buffs’ ability to reach the free throw line “always makes it difficult. They have a lot of great athletes, a lot of quick kids and a lot of kids with size. They were able to get to the line more than us . . . if you get yourself to the line like that in a game you give yourself a chance to win.”
Said Shyatt: “We just didn’t come up with what we needed at the charity stripe.”
The Cowboys led 31-26 at halftime, but that was half the advantage they held 31/2 minutes earlier. A 10-0 run put them up 28-18 before the Buffs began to gather themselves. It didn’t help that CU went just over 71/2 minutes without a field goal, and that Dinwiddie was limited to 12 first-half minutes after drawing two fouls.
Wyoming’s 10-0 run featured three-pointers by Jerron Granberry and Adams and underscored a deficiency CU exhibited in its opener. UT-Martin had hit 41 percent from beyond the arc in a 91-65 loss, but the Buffs’ perimeter ‘D’ problems got Boyle’s attention.
The Cowboys ended the half shooting 50 percent from downtown (5-of-10), but hit only two of their 11 second-half attempts (18.2 percent). “We tried to get a little closer to them,” Boyle said. “I thought our three-point defense in the second half was much better.”
The Buffs needed a stellar start to the second 20 minutes and they got it, outscoring the Cowboys 8-3 and tying the score 34-34 on a pair of “XJ” free throws with 17:17 remaining. CU went inside to open the half, getting baskets from Scott and a pair of layups from Wes Gordon that preceded Johnson’s free throws.
Wyoming reclaimed a four-point lead (40-36), but CU used free throws by Dinwiddie and Booker to tie the score at 40-40 before a Booker layup put the Buffs ahead 42-40 with 12:15 to play. The Cowboys led only once the rest of the game – 47-46 on a three-pointer by Nathan Sobey with 7:55 left.
But even with CU parading to the foul line, Wyoming stayed close. The Cowboys closed to 57-56 on a jumper by Nance with 1:47 remaining. Dinwiddie answered by making four consecutive free throws, Xavier Talton hit one of two – the last gave the Buffs a four-point lead with 11.7 seconds showing – and Johnson made one of two with 3.6 seconds left to end the scoring.
Boyle said Dinwiddie “can affect the game the game in a lot of different ways. It doesn’t have to be scoring; it doesn’t have to be shooting. It can be getting to the free throw line, which he obviously does a great job of. It can be defensively and I think he’s our best perimeter defender right now.”
If the Buffs did as Boyle suggested and won ugly, Scott took consolation in this: “You can see that we make mistakes and sometimes lose concentration, but one of the blessings is that we have so much we can improve upon. We play teams that are well-coached and have returning players . . . we have to feel pretty excited by the fact we were able to beat a team like that. It just shows that we have promise for the games coming up.”
The next one is one of the earliest in recent memory: The Buffs are back at the CEC on Saturday at 10 a.m. against Jackson State.
Poor offense doomed the Buffs at Baylor
Nov 9th
By Anthony Lepine, CU Sports Information Student Assistant
DALLAS – The Colorado Buffaloes opened a highly anticipated 2013-14 basketball season with a disappointing offensive performance against No. 25 Baylor, falling 72-60 Friday night in the Buckets and Boots Showcase at the American Airlines Arena.
CU shot a dismal 33.3 percent, hitting just 22 of its 66 field goal attempts and never led in the contest. Nonetheless, with 2:23 remaining the Buffs trailed by only six after a layup by Josh Scott cut Baylor’s lead to 64-58.
“We cut it to six at that one point,” CU head coach Tad Boyle said, “but, we couldn’t get over the hump.”
The Buffs regained possession after a missed jumper by Baylor’s Cory Jefferson and a rebound by Wesley Gordon. But a bad possession ending with a forced jumper by Askia Booker left the Buffs still down six and needing a stop.
Instead, Baylor 7-footer Isaiah Austin connected on a jump hook and the Buffs again trailed by eight.
However, the Bears fouled Buffs junior guard Spencer Dinwiddie – who boasts an 82 percent career free-throw percentage – at the line with 47 seconds remaining. His pair of free throws again cut Baylor’s lead to six, but Baylor junior college transfer Kenny Chery answered with a pair of foul shots and CU was all but finished.
Dinwiddie’s three-point attempt rimmed out, the Bears corralled the rebound and finished out the game at the free-throw line, sending the Buffs back to Boulder 0-1.
“It’s disappointing, but it’s not the end of the world,” Boyle said. “We have to keep getting better, that’s all you can do . . . I just want to play hard, play smart and play together.”
The Buffaloes were missing their typical offensive production that has come to be expected from
Scott was the bright spot on offense for Colorado as the sophomore finished with a double-double, scoring 15 points and grabbing 11 rebounds. Scott’s frontcourt-mate, redshirt freshmen Wesley Gordon, also delivered for the Buffaloes starting in his first career game.
Gordon finished with nine points and eight rebounds, and Boyle classified Gordon’s performance as “terrific.”
“I was nervous just because it was my first time really playing for a while,” Gordon said. “I just wanted to make sure I was doing my job out there. I expected it would be a physical game.”
Boyle relied on all of his freshmen in the season opener as the first two Buffs off the bench were true freshmen Tre’Shaun Fletcher and Dustin Thomas. Classmates Jaron Hopkins and George King would also be thrust into action early on in the game.
“I thought they played aggressively,” Boyle said. “They’re going to make mistakes, and I’m not down on those guys at all. They just have to learn from it and hopefully understand at this level you can’t make those mistakes.
“But, I love our freshmen. It’s not about our freshmen (the loss), it’s about our veteran guys that we need to play like they’ve been here and play at the level that they need to play at to win these kinds of games against this kind of competition.”
The Buffs will look to pick up their first win of the season on Sunday at 4 p.m. against Tennessee-Martin in the home opener at the Coors Events Center.
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