Posts tagged CU
CU soccer moves to Sweet 16, defeating BYU
Nov 21st
TALAHASSEE, Fla. – In a match-up of wits and athleticism, the University of Colorado came out the victor, defeating No. 19 Brighman Young University 2-1 in the NCAA Women’s Soccer Championship Round of 32 here Thursday.
Behind first-half goals by sophomore Emily Paxton and junior Carly Bolyard, the Buffaloes took down the Cougars to advance the Sweet 16. This is CU’s second trip to the third round of NCAAs – the Buffs advanced to the Sweet 16 in 2006 to post the program’s best NCAA finish.
Behind first-half goals by sophomore Emily Paxton and junior Carly Bolyard, the Buffaloes took down the Cougars to advance the Sweet 16. This is CU’s second trip to the third round of NCAAs – the Buffs advanced to the Sweet 16 in 2006 to post the program’s best NCAA finish.
“I think first and foremost to beat a team of BYU’s quality is a tremendous testament to how we have grown as a program throughout the year,” CU head coach Danny Sanchez said. “We have struggled at the end of the season and never lost focus; we have never lost any fight, I’m just real proud on how they just kept working. As far as the game today, we knew that BYU would bring a lot of pressure and Emily got that early goal which gave us a lot of confidence and then Carly got the second. You know what they say a 2-0 lead is the most dangerous lead, which I disagree because if it was 1-0 and would have been tied, but there is always a tendency to relax a little bit and I think that they caught us and made it 2-1 with about 30 minutes to go, but I feel after that we played very well.”
Colorado improves to 14-6-2 overall. The Buffs are now 9-0-1 when scoring at least two goals. CU is also 2-3-2 against ranked opponents, picking up back-to-back wins over ranked opponents for the first time since 2010 when the Buffs beat No. 12 UCLA and No. 6 Texas A&M in back-to-back games.
BYU’s eight game unbeaten streak and season both come to an end. The Cougars gave up two goals for just the fourth time this season (only one other time did that result in a loss). BYU ends its season with a 15-5-1 record.
Though the Cougars edged the Buffs in shots (17 to 11) and shots on goal (seven to five), CU netted the shots that mattered most, and keeper Annie Brunner grabbed six saves. Though the Cougars entered the game holding the nation’s 19th best goals-against average and 29th best shutout percentage, the CU attack was too much for West Coast Conference Goalkeeper of the Year Erica Owens.
“We defended like warriors; BYU was putting so much pressure on us near the end of the game and we were just smart going forward,” Sanchez said. “We had a couple of chances to make it a 3-1 game, but I’m just real proud of this team because I don’t think these players understand what this means to the University of Colorado, what it means to the alumni and former players. It’s just big for our players now and whether it’s soccer, basketball or football we are just really pleased to represent a great institution at this level.”
BYU seemed primed to make some big moves in the beginning of the game, taking the first four shots. In the sixth minute, after a long Alex Huynh free kick found its way to the front of the Cougar net, CU couldn’t retain possession. BYU rushed back, and Paige Hunt sent a ball wide off a corner kick.
While the Cougars were dominating the pace, the CU defense remained solid. In the eighth minute, Marissa Nimmer sent the ball toward the net for an easy save by Brunner. Cloee Colohan continued the offensive pressure, first getting stopped by a big-time block by Lizzy Herzl and then, despite creating some space in front of the net, hitting the ball wide right.
The Buffs got their moment in the 15 and 16th minutes, when Darcy Jerman and Anne Stuller both hit their shots just high, helping the squad gain momentum. The Cougars once again got back into Buffalo territory, but this time, it was Niki Fernandes who rushed her shot wide.
CU responded with a big attack. In the 21st minute, Anne Stuller sent her corner kick to the near post. The ball got to Emily Paxton, who shot to the far post. The ball deflected off a BYU player to fall into the net and put the Buffs up 1-0.
“It was a great build up,” Paxton said. “It was also a great through ball from Madi to earn the corner and it was a near post ball. It felt like the longest two seconds that I’ve had before they came after me and luckily it went in.”
The Buffs continued to press, taking two more corner kicks in the 25th and 26th minutes. The first was finger-tipped away by Owens at the net, but the second couldn’t stay in the Buffs’ possession.
The Cougars looked to even the score, taking three consecutive shots. First, Nimmer sent a field goal of a kick to the net. Jaiden Thornock matched her pace, rushing in in an attempt to beat several CU defenders. Huynh came in for the tackle and Brunner was ready for the ensuing save. Brunner picked up another save in the 30th minute, after Ella Johnson booted the ball her way.
BYU’s attack wouldn’t last for long, as CU extended its lead to 2-0 in the 34th minute. From 18 yards out, Carly Bolyard took a beautiful shot that reached Owens, who wasn’t able to hold onto the ball and could only watch as the ball slid into the net. Madison Krauser provided the assist from the far post.
The goal was Bolyard’s first since she netted a goal and contributed an assist in the Buffs’ 5-0 win over Colorado College in the 2011 Colorado Cup. “It feels amazing, that moment in unforgettable and it’s just nice to finally get one,” Bolyard said of her goal.
Stuller and Brooke Rice would both take shots for CU in the final 10 minutes of the half as the Cougars were forced to play defense. Though the game became more physical in the final six minutes, CU’s 2-0 lead would hold at the break.
The Buffs picked up right where they left off to start the second half. In the 52nd minute, Mikaela Kraus sent a shot wide. Less than a minute later, Paxton forced Owens to grab her first save of the game. However, the momentum would quickly turn in BYU’s favor. In the 58th minute, Fernandes got one-on-one with Hayley Hughes in the right edge of the box. Fernandes found her opportunity and shot the ball high to the far post.
The Cougars continued to push the CU defense and got their scoring opportunity in the 59th minute. Brunner got faked out and fell to the far post as Fernandes snuck in a goal from 10 yards out. Rachel Manning was credited with the assist as the Cougars narrowed the Buffs’ lead to 2-1.
Both hungry to keep their season alive, CU and BYU combined for five shots in an eight minute span, with the Cougars grabbing a three to two edge. Fernandes and Hughes were once again head-to-head, with Fernandes getting the advantage and forcing a save. The Buffs and Cougars battled back and forth for possession and offensive dominance, but it was BYU who would find their stride on the attack. With 20 minutes remaining, Fernandes took her fourth consecutive shot, getting blocked to set up a corner, where Manning would head the ball wide.
CU was able to respond, with Paxton continuing her strength in front of the net, taking a shot from the right edge to force another save. In the 77th minute, Jerman took the Buffs’ final shot of the game, hitting the ball wide past the far post.
In the closing minutes, BYU sent everyone forward, causing a close call in the 83rd minute. Following a corner kick, a group of Cougars fought to even the score. First, Johnson used her head to force a save. Then, Colohan got the ball, knocking one into the crossbar. Hughes and Fernandes met one final time, with Brunner meeting her blocked shot to close out the game.
The Buffs will face the winner of the Mississippi/Florida State matchup. Kick-off of the Sweet 16 game is at 1 p.m. ET (11 a.m. MT) on Saturday, Nov. 23. at Florida State Soccer Stadium.
“It’s just awesome, I told (coach) that he can’t get rid of us yet,” Hughes said. “I think as seniors we just want to keep going because we aren’t ready to be done. I think that it’s just awesome and it means a lot to us and there are also a lot of people that are following us. I have teachers and just old teammates that are just so invested in this and it just means a lot to us and this is a great experience and we just want to keep going.”
—
Marlee Horn Graduate Assistant SID University of Colorado
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CU women stay cool through big Iowa comeback, win 90-87
Nov 21st
By: B.G. Brooks, Contributing Editor
BOULDER – The draw was clear, but it didn’t matter. Colorado students turned out by the hundreds for Wednesday night’s women’s basketball game matching No. 16 CU against previously unbeaten Iowa. Never mind that they came mostly for tickets to the men’s game on Dec. 7 against No. 2 Kansas.
All that mattered to CU coach Linda Lappe and her players was that the students showed up. Turns out, the Buffs needed them. They had a difficult time holding leads, but they held off the Hawkeyes nonetheless, winning 90-87 at the Coors Events Center.
Jasmine Sborov’s improved play had been a factor in the Buffs’ success
At game’s end, students traded wrist bands given to them upon entering the CEC for the coveted KU tickets. The court was nearly stormed – not to celebrate a win – but in time the distribution of just under 2,000 tickets went smoothly. Another 500 will be made available to students.
“Whether they came for tickets or to watch us, it was their choice to come . . . I mean they were there, what more can you say?” said CU senior guard Brittany Wilson.
Wilson topped five Buffs in double figures. She started for the first time this season and scored a career-high 26 points – 17 in the first half. Arielle Roberson scored 17 points, contributed a game-best nine of CU’s 44 rebounds (Iowa had 35) and had a career-high six assists. Lexy Kresl scored 12, while Jasmine Sborov and Jen Reese added 10 points each for the Buffs.
Rounding back into form after a leg injury, Wilson hit seven of 10 free throws in the final 1:46 as the Buffs turned back their Big Ten visitors. For the foul-filled night (59 were called on both teams), CU hit 30-of-40 free throws to Iowa’s 21-of-32. The Hawkeyes lost three players to fouls, the Buffs two. But CU benefitted most at the line, getting 15 of its final 18 points at the free throw line in the last 4:54.
Lappe called the CU students “a huge help in a game like that . . . we enjoy having them and we hope they come back. Having students support you is important in women’s basketball. We knew the student section was going to be awesome.”
With the Twitter world abuzz Tuesday about the KU ticket distribution plan, Lappe had told her players to “keep a narrow focus” on Wednesday night.
The Buffs did, didn’t and finally did. A 20-point first-half lead was cut to two early in the second half. A 15-point second-half lead was cut to three in the final half minute. Yet the Buffs kept their cool, remained unbeaten (3-0) and eventually handed the Hawkeyes their first loss in five games.
“We knew they weren’t going to lay down and die,” Lappe said. “Their players play hard. But in the end I liked how we responded to every one of their runs. We could have folded; instead, we came down and hit shot, got key rebounds and got stops.”
The Buffs led by as many as 20 points (46-26) late in the first half, but a 9-2 run to close the half pulled the Hawkeyes to within 48-35 at intermission. The Buffs’ 48 first-half points were their most since the 2011 WNIT when they hit 50 against Cal, but they ended up allowing more than 70-plus points since the 2011-12 season.
CU forged its double-figure lead with a 17-0 surge that broke an 8-8 tie less than 5 minutes into the game. Wilson scored six points during the Buffs’ spurt but just as instrumental as her scoring in that run was CU’s defense. While the Buffs were going from that 8-8 tie to a 25-8 advantage, the Hawkeyes went without a field goal in six attempts. By the time Iowa found its range again, CU had opened its 20-point margin.
The Buffs shot 45.9 percent from the field in the first 20 minutes, hitting 17 of their 37 attempts, while the Hawkeyes went to the locker room at 40.7 percent (11-of-27). Iowa finished the game at 46.9 percent, thanks to 51.4 percent second half shootinig.
If the Buffs believed they could open the second half in cruise control, the Hawkeyes quickly put an end to the notion. Less than 2 minutes into the final 20, CU’s 20-point first-half lead was a distant memory.
The Hawkeyes one-upped their 9-2 run that closed the first half, outscoring the Buffs 10-2 to pull to within five points (50-45) on a Theairra Taylor three-pointer with just over 17 minutes remaining. Two minutes later, CU saw its lead cut to three (54-51) on a pair of free throws by Iowa freshman guard Ally Disterhoft.
One of two free by freshman Alexa Kastanek shrunk the Hawkeyes’ deficit to 56-54 – and the Buffs were in dire need of a boost. They got it with a 15-2 run.
Field goals by Sborov and Roberson, coupled with two Roberson free throws and another pair by Reese, pushed CU back up by 10 (64-54) with 10:01 left. Kresl added a layup, aided by a sweet look-off of an Iowa defender, then freshman Lauren Huggins drained a three-pointer from the left corner.
Suddenly, the Buffs were back up by 15 points (71-56) and appeared to be out of danger. The Hawkeyes had something else in mind – and rolling over wasn’t it. They used a 12-1 run to get within four points again (72-68) until Huggins’ huge trey from the right wing opened a 79-72 CU lead with 3:28 remaining.
Again, Iowa wasn’t done. Four consecutive free throws by Melissa Dixon brought Iowa to within 79-75 with 2:02 to play, and a layup by Clair Till pulled the Hawkeyes to 84-80 with 41.4 seconds showing. They got to 85-82, then 87-84, then 90-87 at the buzzer on a three-pointer by Samantha Logic, who tied Wilson with a game-high 26 points.
Lappe called the win “huge” for her team “to gain confidence and for our young players to get some minutes and see what that looks like.”
And as for the CU students, added Kresl, “Maybe it opened their eyes to us.”
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It wasn’t pretty but CU men got a good win
Nov 19th
Buffs Keep Growing In Run Past Red Wolves
by B.G. Brooks
CUBuffs.com contributing editor
BOULDER – Colorado’s young Buffs are growing up, which means an occasional pain or two. For now, it’s nothing they can’t tolerate but it won’t stay that way much longer.
Ebbing and flowing Monday night at the Coors Events Center, CU alternately buried and revived Arkansas State before finally putting down the talented Red Wolves 93-70.
“Obviously, we’re happy with a 23-point win,” Buffs coach Tad Boyle said. “That was the good news. But I think again, like most games we’ve played this year, there’s a lot of things we can take from this one and learn from and get better from. And I think the thing that stands out for me tonight was defensive intensity.
“I thought we let up a little bit the first part of that second half, and part of that credit goes to Arkansas State. They’ve got good players; we knew that coming in . . . but we’ve got to have that killer instinct defensively. We let up a little bit and let them back in it. But we gained control of it and I was proud of our guys. There’s a lot of good things to build on.”
Let the construction work continue.
The Buffs (4-1) led by 18 points at halftime, by 20 in the opening seconds of the second half, then by only eight points with 13:30 remaining. Such are the mood swings for a team depending on four true freshman and a redshirt freshman for quality minutes.
CU ultimately took control against Arkansas State (2-2), which had lost 85-64 at Wyoming on Sunday, but it took a Spencer Dinwiddie three-pointer with 10:09 to play to restore a double-digit lead (68-56) and allow the Buffs to rediscover how to hit the accelerator. Dinwiddie, one of four CU players in double figures, had another fine floor game, hitting four of five field goal attempts (two-of-two threes) and three of four free throws for 13 points. He also had a game-high five assists and two steals.
Spencer Dinwiddie made a three-pointer with 10:09 to play to restore a double-digit lead (68-56)
But the Buffs’ high-point man was their growing low-post presence, Josh Scott, the 6-10 sophomore. His 20 points were one short of his career high. “They had a 6-7, although he was 250 pounds, and a 6-10 – but they were single-covering me and they weren’t digging hard,” Scott said. “If you’re going to give me that, I’m probably going to score. That’s pretty much all I can say about that.”
Also in double figures for the Buffs were freshmen George King (11) and Jaron Hopkins (10). Eleven of the 14 CU players in uniform scored, but for the second consecutive game the Buffs were without sophomore forward Xavier Johnson, who also missed Saturday’s game against Jackson State after being “dinged” in a late-week practice, according to Boyle.
Once again, Hopkins opened in Johnson’s place – and once again Hopkins was effective early, scoring five points on two free throws and a three-pointer in an 11-0 run that helped the Buffs open a 12-point (22-10) advantage. King also hit a pair of three-pointers during that surge and made good on a prophesy to roommate Tre’Shaun Fletcher.
“I noticed in warm-ups I wasn’t shooting the ball well, but in this one I focused on blocking everything out . . . . I told my roommate, ‘Fletch,’ I was going to hit a three in this game,” said King, who hit both of his three-point attempts as the Buffs hit nine for the second consecutive game.
But Boyle wasn’t necessarily pleased with that number, especially with the Buffs hitting only one of their first eight trey attempts and getting away from their offensive philosophy. They finished the half 6-of-15 from behind the arc and 9-of-23 for the game. Said Boyle: “I thought we got trigger happy in the first half with threes. We can’t live and die with those . . . we’re an inside-out team.”
Boyle previously had expressed a reluctance to have three freshmen on the court at the same time, but with Johnson out now for two games there is little choice at times. “I’d rather have it in a game like this,” Boyle said. “Hopefully in a couple of weeks I won’t look at them as freshmen. But our freshmen are growing up quick . . . tonight was another step in the right direction for them.”
CU trailed only once, allowing a trey by Melvin Johnson III – a 6-6 senior transfer from Texas-San Antonio – to open the scoring. Nothing out of the ordinary for Johnson; he entered the game having connected on 12-of-22 three-point tries in the Red Wolves’ first three games and was the team’s leading scorer (16.7 ppg).
He finished as Monday night’s leading scorer with 25 and teammate Brandon Reed added 21. But they were the only Red Wolves to score in the first half; their teammates went 0-for-13. Kirk Van Slyke, a 6-10 post, added 15 points, but aside from the Red Wolves’ brief second-half spurt they simply couldn’t keep pace with the Buffs’ mostly young guns.
CU pushed ahead 40-22 with 4:05 left before intermission, and at halftime, the Buffs were still up by 18 – 46-28. There was little reason to think the Red Wolves could catch up in the final 20 minutes, but they gave it a shot – a three-point shot. They hit five of their seven treys after intermission, pulling to within eight points twice before the Buffs decided ‘D’ might be necessary.
CU held A-State to 28.6 percent from the field (8-of-28) in the first 20 minutes, but 53.3 percent second-half shooting brought the Red Wolves to 41.4 percent for the game (24-of-58).
“I think we locked them up pretty well in first half . . . we chased them off the three-point line,” Scott said. “Coming out of the half, we didn’t find their shooters. They hit some good shots (but) we finally got locked in and got the win by a large margin.”
After Dinwiddie fed Hopkins for an alley-oop slam to open a 20-point lead (48-28) seconds into the second half, CU appeared to be cruising. But over the next 51/2 minutes, the Red Wolves outscored the Buffs 19-7, taking advantage of a familiar CU deficiency – perimeter defense.
A-State used four three-pointers during that span to pull to within 55-47 with just over 14 minutes remaining. But the visitors from Jonesboro, Ark., could get no closer than eight points the rest of the night.
The Buffs surged to a 25-point lead, 90-65, on a Beau Gamble-assisted Ben Mills stuff with 1:45 to play. Sophomore walk-on Brett Brady got the Buffs to 93 with a three-pointer in the final minute and the CEC crowd of 8,204 roared its approval.
Boyle wants the roaring – as well as the attendance – to increase. The Buffs’ six-game home stand begins to wind down Thursday when UC-Santa Barbara visits the CEC (6 p.m.). On Sunday afternoon (2:30 p.m.), Harvard visits, and Boyle said the Buffs need to “get our minds right” for both games.
“The last two weeks this team has gotten better,” he said. “You can feel it offensively and defensively (but) Santa Barbara is a different caliber team, Harvard is a different caliber team. We’ll find out in the next two games how great those strides have been.”
Contact: BG.Brooks@Colorado.EDU
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