The Friday night lights were too bright for the University of Colorado’s women’s soccer team in their loss to Purdue in the Illini/Boilermaker Cup.
The Buffs’ match was the first ever night game at the newly rennovated Varsity Soccer Complex in West Lafayette, Ind. CU and Purdue faced each other last season at the Omni Hotels Colorado Women’s Soccer Classic, with the Boilermakers winning definitively 3-1. This year, both teams are coming off of losses, the Buffs 1-0 upset by Wyoming and Purdue’s three game losing streak to Virginia, Oregon State and Missouri.
The Boilermakers came out from the start playing like they had a chip on their shoulder as they desperately warded off the surging Buffs who racked up 6 first half shots. Purdue committed 9 first half fouls to CU’s 3. Neither team found the back of the net until Purdue’s freshman forward Alex Hairston scored in the 63rd minute to break the seal. The last 30 minutes of the match was action-packed, with 18 shots shared evenly between the two teams. Purdue continued to lead in fouls with 6 more in the second half.
All of the fouling reached its climax when Purdue’s senior defender Brookley Rogers received a yellow card in the 81st minute. But the Buffs couldn’t equalize and the game ended in a hard fought 1-0 victory for the Boilermakers.
Colorado’s Hayley Hughes took one of the top performer spots with her performance of 82 minutes, 7 shots, 3 on goal. Both goalies and the game-winning goal scorer Alex Hairston, who had 4 shots in total, received top performing spots as well.
The Buffs continue road play against Illinois at 1 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 28.