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County opens more trails
Oct 9th
Boulder County, Colo. – Boulder County Parks and Open Space staff has determined that the following properties are safe and accessible and can open to the public at noon, Oct. 9:
· Mud Lake
· Reynolds Ranch
· Carolyn Holmberg Preserve – Mary Miller Trail to back of Stearns Lake only
· Castle Rock
Opening Thursday, Oct. 10 at sunrise:
· Betasso Preserve– All open except Fourmile entrance and Fourmile Link Trail
Additional parks will be opened as staff can assess conditions and do the work necessary to make them safe and/or accessible. Go to www.BoulderCountyOpenSpace.org/trails for a full list.
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CU soccer rolls over the Ducks for 10th win
Oct 7th
BOULDER – Hayley Hughes lit a spark for the University of Colorado soccer team, pushing the Buffaloes past the Oregon Ducks 1-0 at Prentup Field on Sunday.
Hughes led the team with four shots, all on goal. In the 63rd minute, Hughes got the ball from 40 yards out, and didn’t waste any time blasting the ball toward the net and into the right corner for her first goal of the season.
“Hayley spent half of the season last year as a striker so we know she’s dangerous going forward,” CU head coach Danny Sanchez said. “It was just a great shot, their goal keeper Abby Steele is a great goal keeper. I feel she’s one of the top goal keepers in the league and to beat her today, we needed something special and that was a special shot from Hayley.”
With continued defensive pressure, the Buffs’ 1-0 lead would hold through regulation to give the Buffs their 10th win of the season. The win was the Buffs’ first over the Ducks in four meetings. The Buffs (10-2 overall, 1-1 Pac-12 Conference) have recorded back-to-back conference wins for the second time since joining the Pac-12, with the previous consecutive wins coming at USC and Arizona last season.
Oregon falls to 2-6-3, 0-2-1 Pac-12, with all of their defeats being determined by a single goal.
“All twelve teams (in the conference) are quality, and I think it’s maybe more of a situation where Oregon is desperate for result with where their season is going and that’s a dangerous team.” Sanchez said. “You can see the dangerous players that they have. I’m really pleased with how we came out, both halves. I felt the first twenty minutes of the game and the first twenty minutes of the second half were very good. And then at the end of the day … we defended great. They have dangerous players. So I’m just really pleased to get the result and to get a shut out.”
Though Oregon outshot Colorado 15-13 (including a nine to five differential in the second half), the Buffs were consistently more on target, hitting nine to Oregon’s four on goal.
The game was also a battle of two outstanding goal keepers, who combined for a total of 12 saves. Oregon’s Abby Steele leads the conference in saves and ranks in Oregon’s all-time top four in shutouts, wins and saves. Annie Brunner continues to have the best season of her career at Colorado. She currently ranks in the conference’s top five in shutouts and goals-against average.
With Sunday’s victory, Brunner becomes one of just four CU keepers to record at least 10 wins in a single season. For the second straight season, Brunner has shutout at least seven opponents (joining 2003 Big 12 Championship team member Jessica Keller as the only Buffs to have had back-to-back seasons with at least seven shutouts each year).
“I think at the end of the day it was just a good hard fought Pac-12 game,” Sanchez said. “I thought both goal keepers were very good. I thought Brunner was rock solid today dealing with those set pieces and a lot of corner kicks late when Oregon was pushing numbers. I thought it was a good hard fought game.”
The game began with Oregon keeping pressure in Buffs’ territory, but not being able to get any good looks at the net or retain possession for long.
Though Colorado and Oregon State had scored all three of their goals in the first 14 minutes on Friday, it wasn’t until the 14th minute on Sunday that a team was able to take a shot. A Bianca Jones free kick was sent over the wall, where Olivia Pappalardo was able to get her head on the ball, though she couldn’t get a shot. Darcy Jerman was ready for the rebound, but sent the ball just high. The Buffs continued on the attack, with Hughes, Jerman and Madison Krauser all making Steele work for saves in just over a one minute span.
Nineteen minutes into the first half, Oregon was finally able to get their first shot off, though Pugh was off her mark. The Buffs got back-to-back looks at the net in the following minutes, with Anne Stuller sending a free kick just over the post in the 22nd minute.
The Ducks responded with three consecutive shots of their own. Maryn Beutler and Lilly Archer were both blocked by the strong CU defense. Oregon continued to press the Buffs’ net, but Pugh once again shot wide.
The Buffs would only get one more opportunity before halftime. With under seven minutes remaining, they took a corner kick. Though no Buff got the first ball, Paxton was able to take it back and edge to the left side, but was blocked.
Oregon caused a stir in front of the net in the final three minutes of the first half. Ryann Davie got to the net, but shot the ball high. Following the Ducks’ corner kick, Riley Smith was right at the net, but got blocked, keeping the game scoreless at the break.
The opening of the second half was full of action. The Ducks and Buffs would trade off two shots apiece in the first nine minutes. For CU, Krauser was blocked in the 47th and Hughes sent a deep shot at Steele in the 51st. In the 48th and 54th minutes, Oregon’s Archer and Pugh both made Brunner work for saves.
In the 63rd minute, Hughes took an amazing shot from deep to put the Buffs up 1-0.
“The ball just kind of popped out, I was at the top of the box and it just happened to hit me,” Hughes said. “I chested it and it just fell perfectly to my feet and not I’m going to say I was aiming for the top corner, but you know, I kind of just got a good strike on it and it just bent kind of into that corner away from the keeper. I’m really pumped about it. It’s my first goal this season.”
The Buffs kept the pressure high following Hughes’ goal. CU and Oregon traded off shots in the following six minutes, with Alyssa Herwatt getting the ball from the right and taking a close range shot that Steele had to hop on for the save. The Buffs backline had a few close calls in the 71st minute. First, Beutler shot the ball to the far post, forcing Brunner to dive for the save. The ball was deflected off Brunner’s fingertips and Ashlee Schulz came in for the rebound at the left post, but hit the ball just wide.
“That’s a really athletic team,” Hughes said. “They’re good players. It’s great to get up 1-0, but then you know the attack is going to be after you. I think us four in the back, obviously just the whole team had to stay really compact and just work off each other and I think we had great coverage. I’m just really proud of everyone. We defended as a team.”
The Buffs continued to focus on defense, allowing just three more shots in the final 16 minutes.
“It‘s awesome,” Brunner said of the win. “I feel like we finally have the grit. We were in all these games last year, but we finally have the grit to get it through and win.”
The Buffs leave the Centennial State for the first time this season for a three game road trip. CU takes on Washington State at 2 p.m. MT on Friday, Oct. 11 and faces Washington at noon MT on Sunday, Oct. 13. The Buffs return to Berkeley, Calif. to take on California (where they earned their first victory in the Pac-12) at 1:30 p.m. MT on Friday, Oct. 18 before returning for their final two home games.
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Marlee Horn Graduate Assistant SID University of Colorado O: 303.492.7525 C: 719.821.0689 marlee.horn@colorado.edu CUBuffs.com
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Simpson notches career-high kills to whip Washington State for a 3-1 Pac-12 record
Oct 7th
BOULDER — Junior outside hitter Taylor Simpson recorded a career-high 23 kills as the University of Colorado volleyball team defeated Washington State 3-1 to win its third straight Pac-12 Conference match this season.
The Buffs won 25-17, 25-21, 25-27, 25-19 to improve to 11-3 overall, 3-1 in the Pac-12. WSU is now 14-3, 1-3 in the Pac-12. This is the first time since 2006 that the Buffs have won three conference matches in a row.
“It was definitely a hard-fought match,” Simpson said. “They definitely put their hands on any hit that I had, but we had some good sets and were doing really well passing-wise. I thought it was a good match.”
Simpson hit .333 in the match with seven errors on 48 attacks. She also added seven digs and four blocks assists. Nikki Lindow had an error-free hitting night with 10 kills on 19 swings for a match-high .526 hitting percentage. At the net she led the Buffs with five block assists.
CU hit .278 in the win with 61 kills. Nicole Edelman had 45 assists and added six kills on 13 errorless attacks to hit .462. She also had a double-double with 10 digs. Alexis Austin and Kerra Schroeder each recorded seven kills for CU and Kelsey English tacked on another six in the victory. Cierra Simpson led CU in the back row with 14 of CU’s 49 digs.
Colorado out-blocked the Cougars 8.0-4.0. Besides blocks from Lindow and Taylor Simpson, English and Schroeder each put up three block assists and Austin added the final one for CU.
“I am very proud of them (the team),” coach Liz Kritza said. “We talked in the locker room before the match about this being more important than the match that we played on Friday. This is the follow-up match, and it’s the one that lets us show that it’s not just a team that can pull an upset and then dip down. It’s part of establishing our identity within this league and across the country nationally in volleyball.”
The Buffs held WSU to a .200 hitting efficiency with 54 kills and 26 errors on 140 attacks. The Cougars were led by Kyra Holt’s 19 kills and Jaicee Harris added 10 kills.
“It’s a victory and we took it,” Kritza said “It wasn’t pretty all the time. I can look at every single player on the roster, and they’re celebrating the fact that it was a victory, but they also know that there’s another side to this. We want continual improvement. We have to get back in the gym; we’re going back on the road for two weeks. We have four tough road matches, and the expectations are getting higher and higher within our group. That’s a very good thing. I always love that they know that I hate losing and love winning, but I want to put ourselves in a position to sustain these victories. This can be a really special season for us.”
The Buffs took a 13-7 lead in the first set before WSU called its first timeout. After the break, the Cougars got within two points (14-12) to force the Buffs to call a timeout of their own. The quick intermission worked well for CU as the team recorded an 8-3 run to go back up 22-15. From there the Buffs were able to finish the set with three of the next five points. Taylor Simpson had a hot hand in the frame, hitting .818 with nine kills and no errors on 11 swings. The Buffs hit .517 as a team with 17 kills and only two errors on 29 swings.
WSU led for the first part of the second set, taking an 11-6 lead. The Buffs started to put a stop to the Cougar’s attack and got back within a point at 13-12. CU continued its comeback and evened the score at 15-15. The Buffs went ahead of WSU with a 4-2 run (19-18) and from that point on the Buffs would never trail as they finished 25-21.
CU forced the Cougars to use a timeout after taking a 9-4 advantage to start the third set. Out of the break, WSU recorded a 5-3 run (12-9) and this time the Buffs decided to spend a timeout. CU retained the lead and went up 19-15, but the Cougars got back within a point at 21-20, so the Buffs used their final timeout of the set. The two teams would battle it out to the end and needed extra points, and in the end it was WSU with the 27-25 win.
The fourth set was a close fought one. The Buffs had a 14-10 lead before WSU took three straight points to get within a point at 14-13. After a quick CU timeout, the Buffs used a 6-3 run to take a 20-16 advantage. The Cougars tried to slow CU down with another timeout, but the Buffs were determined to finish the match and won the set 25-19.
The Buffs will head to northern California next week for a pair of matches. CU will face California on Wednesday, Oct. 9 at 8:30 p.m. MT. The Buffs will take on No. 7 Stanford on Saturday, Oct. 12 at 8 p.m. MT. Both matches will be televised regionally on the Pac-12 Network.
COLORADO BUFFALOES
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