Coming off their first Pac-12 victory at UC Berkeley, the University of Colorado soccer team were faced with playing the role of David vs. Goliath against undefeated No.1 Stanford, Sunday afternoon in Palo Alto.
This one played out a little bit different than the Chapter 17 of Samuel I, with Stanford beating the Buffs 4-1 in a 31-shot massacre.
Stanford set the tone early with their first shot of the game rattling CU’s crossbar, but the rattling would soon be shattered by a wave of offensive threats that the Buffs had no chance of handling.
On Stanford’s fourth shot of the game, junior forward Marjani Hing-Glover intercepted a duffed pass from CU’s goalkeeper Kayla Millar and stroked the ball
Senior Caroline Danneberg just before kicking the ball in a game against Arizona State University at Prentup Field on East Campus, Sunday, Oct. 2, 2011. (CU Independent file/Robert R. Denton)
from 22 yards out, breaking the goal seal, putting her team up 1-0 in the tenth minute.
Just three minutes later, senior forward Lindsay Taylor received a through ball from freshman forward Chioma Ubogagu and hit a hard-driven, low shot that just snuck in the left post, putting Stanford up 2-0 on only 6 shots and within 13 minutes of play. It was Taylor’s 13th goal of the season.
“[Taylor is] a fantastic player,” CU head coach Bill Hempen said in a news release from the CU Sports Information Department. “She can shoot from anywhere she wants. She’s really good.”
The Buffs were able to hold on to the two-goal deficit going into halftime, and that was an achievement in itself, being out-shot 16-2 in the first 45 minutes.
“Being down 2-0 was good,” Hempen said in the release. “Honestly, Kayla [Millar] made a big save with about five seconds left in the first half. “We weathered that storm and had a chance to regroup at halftime.”
The Buffs came out in the second half with an all-or-nothing style of play. CU didn’t give up and was finally awarded with a penalty kick in the 74th minute, which senior Kate Russell put in for her fourth goal of the season.
Stanford also wasn’t done either, putting in another goal in the 80th minute when sophomore Sydney Payne scored the Cardinal’s fourth and final goal on a rebound from a crossbar-shaking shot.
The game ended in a 4-1 loss for the Buffs, but their record wasn’t the only thing that suffered. Junior Amy Barczuk, one of CU’s strongest offensive players, went down with a head injury in the 32nd minute and did not return.
The Buffs will return to Boulder next week to play their final two home games of the 2011 campaign. CU will face UCLA on at 3 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 28, then USC at 1 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 30.
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Joseph Wirth at joseph.wirt@colorado.edu.
