Colorado Buffaloes 2012

Club Soccer, Madison, Road Crowd, Home Crowd

Bummer that the club games are the same evening as the Denver game, which starts at 7. Ida gone to the club games otherwise.

Madison has been named co-Athlete of the Week ... highly deserved, she plays the game with her switch stuck in the ON position. http://www.cubuffs.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=3937&SPID=259&DB_LANG=C&ATCLID=205679452&DB_OEM_ID=600

Either crowd noise got dubbed in to the video of the two goals at Northwestern, or we had a crowd there. Probably a crowd, both Olivia and Carly Manso have family and friends there, although Carly is injured and I don't know if she made the trip. A far cry from the game in Stillwater two years ago, where the assembled multitude for the Buffs consisted of your faithful reporter and one parent.

Our home attendance was good last year even though the team struggled and had to deal with evil spirits at Prentup Field. Free admission helps. Should be even better this year, especially with the Stanford game.

 

Ouch is right. 2-0 five minutes in, 3-0 at the end of the first quarter, and it could have been worse. We were overrun. At times Denver would get 4 or 5 players in or very close to our penalty box and conduct passing drills. Jenna's inexperience at defender was exposed, this is not a complaint because she is not a defender. Heather made her debut, and while it was immediately obvious that she IS a defender, it was also obvious that she's rusty. This will improve.

How bad was the start? Denver's first shot came at 42 seconds, the first corner kick took just over a minute, two goals took less than five minutes, and the first crossbar hit took 13 minutes. Annie got our first shot off almost 17 minutes in. Darcy came in early in the second quarter and settled the midfield noticeably. Then Heather came in for Jenna. The rest of the first half was ... we didn't look so bad. But Annie stole one from them and they missed open shots, it could have been worse.

Different second half. With Amy back on defense, the Buffs had a very good third quarter, keeping Denver fairly well bottled up and creating several chances. Shaye got her head on a corner kick which was cleared by a defender. Annie got a shot off of a defender and in, still 30+ minutes left and the Buffs were looking very good, you don't suppose ... well, no, there was a defensive breakdown at the beginning of the fourth quarter which made it 4-1 and there would be no comeback. The game ended with both teams clearing the bench, this still made for good soccer because you had players on the field who want more playing time and played like it.

So where to play Amy? At Northwestern, she started at defense and the game was all Northwestern. She moved up 27 minutes in and the rest of the game was mostly CU. Tonight she started at midfield, and Denver owned us from the beginning. She played defense in the second half and it was a much more even game. Wherever she is, we need her somewhere else.

UC Irvine won the opener 2-1 over Cincinnati. The first 30 minutes were all Cincinnati, but Irvine's subs were better than Cincinnati's subs and the play evened out. The Anteaters came out for the second half totally on fire, missed a PK, then got two goals 36 seconds apart. The Bearcats rallied near the end but couldn't equalize. Cincinnati had quite a crowd there.

 

WE HAD SO MANY CHANCES !! Shots 25-9, on goal 16-4, but it took the second own goal of the weekend for the Buffs to win 2-1 over Cincinnati.

We learned a lot about this game very early in. There would be no start like Friday against Denver. Hayley split and outran two defenders less than 30 seconds in, roared into the box and Who is that person on the ground with Hayley's goal in her hands? Cincinnati has a goalkeeper. We kept her busy, and she put on an exhibition. A few minutes later Hayley did a repeat and this time punched the ball past the onrushing GK, 1-0 Buffs and it was looking like the rout might be on. And it kept on looking that way, except it wasn't. The Bearcats didn't attack often but they looked dangerous when they did and sure enough, shortly before the end of the half there was a gathering right in front of the goal with the ball in the air and one of their heads found it, 1-1. By far the best soccer the Buffs had played all year, but no lead. Surely the goals would come in the second half.

They didn't. We missed a few shots during the game, but mostly it was that pesky goalkeeper. With 15 minutes left, we kept the ball in their penalty box for a while and a tall Buff and a tall Bearcat both went up for it and it glanced off the Bearcat's head not the direction she had in mind, over the GK and in the net. We'll take it.

I've mentioned the Cincinnati goalkeeper because she was outstanding, but our Annie made the save of the game, her third of three. In the second half, a Bearcat had an open shot from 25+ yards out and got all of it and then some. Had it glanced off the bottom of the crossbar, the bar would have bent. But Annie tipped it just over the bar and into the back of the adjacent lacrosse stands which will require a structural inspection. It must be well built because no bricks came off.

Shaye hit a goalpost late in the game. I thought Olivia played her best game of the year. Early in the season she made several long runs with the ball and kept running and kept running and finally someone took the ball away. This weekend her long runs with the ball usually ended with a pass.

Cincinnati only had a few players on their bench and I thought they would bonk before the game was over, but they didn't. After the game they said they felt the absence of air but enjoyed the lack of humidity. Yes, we missed some chances and the GK stole a bunch, but this was a strong performance against a good team.

When I left at halftime, UC Irvine was giving Denver a good game, trailing 1-0, but the Pioneers scored three in the third quarter to win 4-0. They have given up only one goal in a really big bunch of minutes, and that was the own goal we got Friday night.

 

NEWS OF THE NEIGHBORHOOD:

South to North:

Colorado College defeated Bryant University 4-0 in a game that was that close, then edged Robert Morris 6-0. The second one was 4-0 25 minutes in and the subs then played a lot. The Tigers stay home next weekend to host the University of the Pacific and Colgate.

Air Force got off to a slow start against winless Robert Morris, then scored 3 in a seven minute span of the second half and the substitutes finished the game. Sunday, Bryant University dominated the second half but couldn’t net the equalizer, Air Force hung on 1-0. Next Friday, the Cadets host Colgate, then travel a bit north to visit a thundering herd of large prairie animals.

Friday, Denver def … Sunday, Denver remained very hard to score against with a 4-0 win over UC Irvine. Next weekend the Pioneers invade Big XII country with games at Kansas and Texas. Hook ‘em Pioneers!

Friday evening (they have lights), Northern Colorado had a strong first half, then fell at home to Wyoming 2-0. Next weekend they venture into the Midwest to play Drake and Nebraska.

Wyoming traveled to Greeley to play UNC. In the second half, an unintentional hand ball in the wrong place gave the Cowgirls a penalty kick which they made, and they later added the insurance goal to win 2-0. Shots were even, but most of Wyoming’s were on goal. Sunday, Wyoming came from behind twice, but Washington State scored near the end for a 3-2 win that snapped a six-game winning streak. Next Friday the Cowgirls host a thundering herd of large prairie animals, and host Utah Valley on Sunday.


Speaking of neighborhoods, #1 UCLA hosted neighbor Loyola Marymount Friday night. LMU took their second shot of the game in the 86th minute. Their first shot came off of a corner kick 60 minutes previously, and it went in. No, UCLA didn’t lose, they scored very early in the second half, and that was it, 1-1. Nine of LMU’s starters played all 110 minutes, the other two played 92 and 90.

 

DB, your last post generated lots of thoughts.

CC plays Pacific next weekend. (I'm a CC parent.) Next year, Pacific joins the West Coast Conference, where my beloved Pilots play. Pacific has had a tough year, but just beat Oregon. When my DD was at CC, I watched the CC women play and thought, "Wow, they're a lot rougher than the guys back in the day when I played college soccer." (I admit it, it was back in the '60s.) I'm really interested to see how Pacific does in the game. I think CC better not take them lightly, as they may be better than their record.

Denver looks like it's on a roll. My wife is from Denver and her Dad went to DU law school, so I have a connection there too. They'll be out here in Portland at Merlo field two weeks from today and I'm expecting it will be a really great game. By the way, remind me before the game and I'll let you know how you can see the game on line free.

Finally, LMU's having played UCLA using only 13 players in a double overtime game, and coming out with a tie, says something about about having small rosters. Portland played its win over North Carolina earlier this season with only 13 players. It's risky, but it can be very rewarding for the players and team.

 

RPI

I know it's early, but the first one is out, includes games through Sunday. I've not had good luck with columns here, but it's the new website, so here goes ... the top five and others of interest:

1. Central Florida
2. San Diego State (Go Aztecs !!) (plays Stanford and Santa Clara this weekend, both at SCU)
3. UCLA (the tie with Loyola Marymount didn't help)
4. Washington
5. Long Beach State
9. Stanford (the loss to West Virginia (Go Mountaineers !!) didn't help)
20. Washington State
26. Northwestern (really)
37. Is everybody sitting down? Colorado (Go Buffs !!)
46. Colorado College (how 'bout them Tigers !!)
49. Denver (they might argue being rated below us)
52. California
62. Utah
67. U.C. Irvine (Denver beat them 4-0 on Sunday)
76. Oregon State
89. Arizona State
101. Wright State
107. Arizona (big improvement from last year)
121. Southern California
126. Northern Colorado (big improvement from last year)
142. Wyoming
154. Air Force (big improvement from last year)
163. Coastal Carolina (Paul Hogan ... big improvement from last year)
192. Cincinnati (takes more than a goalkeeper)
198. Oregon
200. Long Island

It's early in the season. I have no idea how/why we are rated above CC and Denver.

 

I totally agree. It's early. I'd love to believe that San Diego State is the #2 team in the country. If they win both games this weekend, I'll believe it. What's important for the Buffs is the word "progress". Noun or verb, they are doing it.

 

Past, last night, future.

Past: Heather didn't play Sunday. Now that redshirting is not an option, I hope she gets some good playing time, and not because a defender is injured or having a difficult game.

COMPLAINT: Apparently we only got programs last Friday because we were playing Denver. I still had mine Sunday morning, but not everybody did and we had some people there who weren't on Friday. They were told that the programs are only out for the Denver games. Petty. I don't mind paying $6 to watch soccer at CIBER Field, it's a great facility IMHO and I'm glad we have a weekend there every year. But come on ... how much does it cost to print those programs? And both Cincinnati games were before Denver's games, so quite a few people who traveled some distance to be here apparently never got programs. Petty. End of complaint.

Last night was the Buff Brigade Launch Party. I kinda figured this was an event aimed at students, but they also had the World Cup qualifying game on and I don't have cable and I assumed that since I'm not related to anybody on the team, I would not embarrass them by being there so I went. Many of the team were there, and a large number of (mostly) male, very high-energy students. The atmosphere at Prentup is in for a change, we'll see it on Sunday.

Thursday is a game with Wyoming at Laramie. They have a new coach who is highly regarded, but the previous coach and staff must have been effective because apparently this is the best team Wyoming has ever fielded. The game is at 4 and will not be warm. I'll be hungry when it's over and there's a McDonald's on the way out of Laramie (food and internet) so I should be able to get the game report out not long after it's over.

Sunday is the last home game and game before conference play and will be interesting to the right of the north goal. Air Force was awash with freshmen last year and played like it, they are a year further along and this is apparently the best team Air Force has fielded. This is looking like a pretty good year for News of the Neighborhood. For those of you who can receive the Pac-12 Network, this game will be As Seen On TV.

 

I don't think this is a petty complaint. The fans of other teams were Denver's guests, and they didn't treat their guests well. If Denver wants to be considered a top program, which I think it does, then it needs to do better. I think they deserve to be called out for it. Maybe they'll do it differently next time, if they take some heat.

 

Three BIG Cheers for the Defense !!

This is a bit later than I promised, I arrived in Laramie with a computer, a dead battery, and no charger/power cord. And it's a bit of a distance and I don't drive that fast because my SUV sucks gas and I had to feed me. The Memphis Bar-B-Q burger at Carl's Jr is REALLY good. All the way home I was wondering how San Diego State fared against Stanford. Well, but not well enough, Stanford scored on a free kick in the first half and it stood, 1-0. Oh, yeah, OUR game ...

Wyoming has a team this year, and in the beginning they were all over us. But they missed a couple of chances and fortunately, this particular beginning was short, about four minutes. We had a bit of an edge in possession the rest of the half, Wyoming looked dangerous when they attacked but every time it got a bit scary, a CU defender made a play. We didn't shoot much but when we did ...

Olivia found Madison with a pass and after a run down the left sideline, M saw an opening, maybe one soccer ball plus three cat whiskers wide, between a defender, the goalkeeper, and the right goalpost. She rolled it past the defender, past and under the reach of the GK, and just inside the goalpost. Not a rocket of a shot, but exactly where it needed to go. Later in the half, Annie got a bit of separation from her defender and launched what was a low rocket, my guess is that it would have arrived very rapidly somewhere on goal, but the defender just barely got a foot under it which slowed it slightly and altered its direction just enough that it found the corner of the goal where the GK wasn't. That was a relief because Wyoming was not playing like one goal would be enough, although it turned out to be. They are tall and fast and almost owned the second half.

Which started a lot like the first half did, but this time they kept it up. We did mount the occasional attack, but possession was very Wyoming for most of the half. Annie got a free kick not far from the box, and somebody from Wyoming's defensive line has one very large bruise. Several times there was a melee in front of our goal and even though Wyoming had all these Tall People, and sometimes kept the ball there for what seemed like a geologic era, either Annie punched it out or someone finally cleared it. The defense was just outstanding, keeping almost all of the pressure off of Annie and she handled everything that did get through to her including intercepting some dangerous crossing passes.

It seemed like we had more than five shots, but it also looked to me that Wyoming had more than ten. I thought we blocked more than that in the second half alone, maybe those don't count? The referee ... I thought the first half was very well called. Most teams play more physically (rougher) than we do, this game was no exception. Wyoming had quite a few fouls, and it was good to see the rough stuff getting called. Not that I ever complain about that, which I will now do. The second half was horrendous. A Buff got manhandled (womanhandled?) at midfield, no call, which led to Emily and a Cowgirl (who had the ball and position) grabbing at each other, no call, which ended when Emily essentially tackled and ran over the Cowgirl, foul on Wyoming. When player W grabs player C's arm with both hands and pulls on it, that's ... not called. Chippy? Like a sawdust pile, but I don't think either team would have let the game get completely out of hand. Calls were made, just very inconsistently.

Speaking of programs, they ran out. It was a Totally Perfect Afternoon which probably contributed (along with a good CU crowd) to the fourth largest crowd they've ever had, apparently larger than was expected, so I'm OK with that. It's a good field and facility, and I appreciate that the bleachers face east so the sun was not a problem for the spectators and benches, but why no water fountain? Ours is a bit of a hike, but we have one.

Wyoming has five players from Calgary and two other Canadians, plus four Australians.

I've seen Wyoming play eight times, and this is by far the best team they've put on the field. But they play San Diego State there, and the Mountain West tournament is at SDSU this year.

 

"Petty" was aimed at whoever made that decision for Denver, not at the complaint. I'll write a polite letter to someone, we'll see what happens next year. We are in the Denver Invitational every year and I don't recall that this was a problem in the past.

Speaking of your DD's alma mater (an outstanding school she attended), Tigers 3, Tigers 0. CC has pitched three shutouts in a row, and hung two on Denver and Colorado at the beginning of the season. Pacific played better than the score indicates, CC is just hard to score on.

 

Final comment, I hope ... I ALMOST drove to Laramie on Thursday. For some reason, I had it in my head that the Wyoming game was Thursday (I had put it on Friday in my calendar which I did not look at). After Sunday's game I said See You Thursday to several people and again Tuesday at the Buff Brigade kickoff and nobody blinked, I mentioned Thursday here two days ago ... luckily I was looking at the schedule late Thursday morning to see if one could catch both soccer and volleyball at UCLA and USC (semi-possible at USC) and I noticed that Wyoming and Air Force were two days apart, not three.

 

In addition to my DD going to CC, my wife's grandfather went to CC. He was in the Mandolin Club, we have picture. He graduated in 1891. She graduated in 1991. Her husband also went to CC, had been a great high school soccer player, sadly had to stop after high school due to a brain tumor and much later -- but after fathering my U9 granddaughter -- yielded to a most likely radiation-induced brain tumor. Happily, I am a lifetime soccer player so I get to help coach her U9 team and do what I can in my old age to fill the fatherly role.

 

Buffs 2, Air Force 0

This will be short, I'm traveling this evening.

We had a lot of chances, especially in the second half. There would have been several more goals if the crossbar was a couple of inches higher. We possessed the first several minutes. Not were possessed, that was Madison. She had another game with the switch stuck in the ON position, and she played on the bleachers side of the field both halves so we really got to enjoy it. Air Force got untracked and had the ball a lot in the first half but couldn't get many shots off, and several of our attacks resulted in good shots, one from Madison that the GK just tipped over the crossbar.

The Buffs came out a little flat to start the second half, so Heather came in for a while which moved Amy up which unflattened us and for the rest of the half, the herd thundered. In the midst of several tall people, a corner kick and Darcy found each other, 1-0. Hayley's goal looked like a short toe poke, but it went in and it's quite a story how it came to that, which I will gladly relate in excessive detail tomorrow night which will be my next time on line.

The Buffs are not a powerhouse, but this is one fine soccer team and a joy to watch.

 

Dang, I could go to Oregon State last year, Oregon is farther. Plus, the Pilots are playing Seattle at Merlo on Friday, which there's no way I'm going to miss.

The Oregon game should be a good one, as they're fairly strong this year. They're on a new field this year, and it's turf (the soccer team doesn't like it and neither does any other soccer fan I know of).

 

If a picture is worth a thousand words, how about a video? Hayley's goal against Air Force (and the other three last weekend) are on This Week in CU Soccer, Unkiemark provided the link a few posts up.