CU-CSU Men's Club Soccer Highlights at Dicks Sporting Goods Park

On Sept. 11, 2010
CU 3 - CSU 0

Courtesy: CU Sports Mag

Men's Lacrosse Releases 2011 Regular Season Schedule

BOULDER (9/29/10) – University of Colorado men's lacrosse head coach Mike Ryder released the Buffaloes’ 2011 regular season schedule on Wednesday afternoon.  The Buffs will play in 16 regular season games in their spring campaign, which includes a rather competitive schedule on the road.

Colorado finished their corrugated 2010 run at 6-7 amidst a shortened schedule and a mid-season coaching change. CU eventually lost to Arizona State in the Men's Collegiate Lacrosse Association national tournament in May. 

The Buffaloes will open the 2011 season at home against Kansas on Mar. 5, before departing Boulder for the first of three road trips. They will travel to Utah first to faceoff in a three day, three RMLC Conference game weekend against Utah State, BYU and finally Utah.

CU will then have a five day rest before heading to the Pacific Northwest to play Simon Fraser in Seattle, Wash. then to Portland, Ore. where they'll face Minnesota-Duluth and the Oregon Ducks.  The Buffs will then hold a six game homestead which includes a rematch between Colorado and Arizona State.  The Sun Devils ended the Buffs' season in the quarterfinals of the MCLA tournament last season in a 13-11 nail biter.

“It will be a great mid-season showdown between two of the best teams in the league,” Ryder said on the game with ASU.  “Arizona State looks to be an even more dangerous team then last season and the Buffaloes hope to come out on the other side of this match-up.”

In addition to ASU, Colorado will host Arizona, Wyoming, Chapman, Texas Tech and Colorado State in the annual Rocky Mountain Lacrosse Showdown at INVESCO Field at Mile High in Denver.  After the Rams, CU will head to the East Coast to wrap up their regular season against Boston College, UConn, and New Hampshire.

CU’s fall agenda has also become public; they will play BYU and the University of Denver on Oct. 16 at the DU campus.

“We are extremely excited about playing against BYU and DU,” Ryder said of his teams fall schedule.  “Playing one of our most heated rivals in the RMLC is a great experience for our new guys to get acquainted with the MCLA and the passion that goes into our games. Also playing the Denver Pioneers is a great opportunity for our program and the MCLA.”

Colorado will end fall ball with their alumni weekend Oct 22-23 and the Pumpkin Shootout versus Northern Colorado, CSU and Regis University on Oct. 30.

Spring 2011 Schedule – Home games in bold

February 12 - @ Air Force (Scrimmage)
February 19 - @ Colorado College (Scrimmage)
February 26 - Northern Colorado (Scrimmage)

Sat. Mar. 5 - Kansas, time TBA
Fri. Mar. 11 - @ Utah State, 7pm
Sat. Mar. 12 - @ BYU, 1pm
Sun. Mar. 13 - @ Utah, 1pm
Fri. Mar. 18 - @ Simon Fraser in Seattle, 7pm
Sun. Mar. 20 - @ Minnesota-Duluth in Portland, 7pm
Tue. Mar. 22 - @ Oregon in Portland, 4pm
Fri. Mar. 25 - Arizona, 7pm
Sun. Mar. 27 - Arizona State, time TBA

Sat. Apr. 2 - Wyoming, 7pm
Sat. Apr. 9 - Chapman @ Folsom Field, time TBA
Sun. Apr. 10 - Texas Tech, time TBA
Sat. Apr. 16 - CSU @ INVESCO Field in Denver, 6pm
Fri. Apr. 22 - @ Boston College, 7pm
Sat. Apr. 23 - @UConn, 7pm
Mon. Apr. 25 - @ UNH, 7pm

Fri. May 6 - RMLC Semi-Finals (Grand Junction, hosted by Mesa State)
Sat. May 7 - RMLC Championship Game (Grand Junction, hosted by Mesa State)

Tue. May 17 - MCLA Championships (First Round)
Wed. May 18 - MCLA Championships (Quarterfinals)
Fri. May 20 - MCLA Championships (Semifinals)
Sat. May 21 - MCLA Championships (Finals)

Swim and Dive Intersquad and Alumni Meet Results Posted

BOULDER (9/27/10) - The University of Colorado swimming and diving team has posted the results from the Sept. 25 intersquad and alumni meet at the CU Student Recreation Center on the team website.

Click HERE to view the results.

The Buffs next competition will be the CU Relay Meet on Oct. 9 in Boulder.

CU swimming and diving website: http://www.colorado.edu/StudentGroups/swimdive/index.html

Women's Rugby Begins Season Win Over CSU

FORT COLLINS, Colo. (9/26/10) – The Colorado Buffaloes women’s rugby team began the 2010 fall season with a 20-9 victory over Colorado State on Sunday.

CU’s next game will be at the Air Force Academy on Oct. 10. The Buffs will have their home opener on Oct. 24 against New Mexico at 11 a.m. on the Business Field.

Women's Soccer Tops Colorado State to Win CU Invitational

BOULDER, Colo. (8/26/10) – It took three games but the Colorado Buffaloes women’s gold club soccer team finally beat Colorado State.

Junior forward Stephanie Durbin scored in the 68^th minute on Sunday afternoon at Franklin Field to give CU the 1-0 win over the CSU gold team and the 9^th Annual University of Colorado Women’s Club Soccer Invitation Championship. The Buffs were 0-1-1 against the Rams this season going into the match.

“The girls are getting better, they are working harder, they are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel of the work that they are putting in and it’s going to start paying dividends,” said CU head coach Dorian Barnes.

The Colorado women’s soccer program has now won the CU Invite seven times with the Buffs gold team winning six of them.

All games in the tournament played two 40 minute halves instead of the usual 45 minute periods.

Goalkeepers Jenna Greenwood and Betsy Builder played great between the pipes for Colorado with them not allowing a ball to get past them in the four day tournament.

“Our goalkeepers to be honest struggled at the beginning of the year, just like our whole team did, but they are getting better,” Barnes said. “They are starting to make the big time saves, they are starting to show some composer and they are starting to lead on the back end and show some confidence. It starts with our defense too and we’ve had good defending and good goalkeeping.”

The Buffs began pool play by shutting out Northern Colorado 6-0 on Thursday and then St. Louis 4-0 on Friday to get the top seed and one of the four byes into the quarterfinals. On Saturday Colorado won 4-0 over Western Nebraska Community College in the quarters and then won 1-0 over Arizona and Colorado State in the semifinals and finals on Sunday.

Greenwood earned the individual shutout in the morning against U of A while Builder shutout CSU in the afternoon.

Sophomore forward Becky Santiago led the Buffs stampede in the goals department with her finding the back of the next eight times in the tournament, five versus UNC and three versus WNCC. She also assisted on Durbin’s game winning goal versus the Rams.

“I’ve been kind of on this season with goals,” Santiago said. “Our team struggled at the beginning but we have started to pick it up and connect better. I got a lot of good through passes in our first game versus UNC and that is how I scored a lot of the goals. The team is starting to play with more heart and work together and we are improving every game.”

Santiago now has 15 goals this season and is on pace to shatter the club’s single season record of 24 held by Samantha Picraux in 2006.

“Becky is a special player for us right now,” Barnes said. “She is finding ways to score goals and she doesn’t do it in the most beautiful ways but she finds a way to be scrappy and get beautiful goals. She is right now on track to beat the club’s scoring record and that is a goal of hers.”

With time running out in the championship game, it looked like the match was destined to go into overtime and possibly penalty kicks, but the Buffs stayed aggressive and finally got a chance to strike after Durbin picked up a bouncing ball in the box and fired it into the net.

“I just saw Becky (Santiago) running down and everyone on the team was crashing in at the 18 and we needed to score,” Durbin said. “I just crashed in and got it from Becky.”

CSU’s best chance to tie it up came in the 79^th minute off of a corner kick, but the CU defense held strong and kicked the ball away from the net.

The gold team wasn’t the only Buffs squad to have success in the tournament as CU’s black and white teams made it all the way to the quarterfinals before losing to Arizona and CSU’s gold team.

“This is the first real time that I have had the chance to watch our black and our white teams play a lot because they were right here at the same facility,” Barnes said. “Our white team played against CSU gold and they lost 2-0, but they were battling and had opportunity after opportunity. That was a turning point for their season.”

The Buffs next game is on Sunday Oct. 3 against Northern Colorado at 6:30 p.m. on Franklin Field before they head to California to take part in the Santa Barbara Invitational on Oct. 8-10.

Colorado is currently scheduled to play Colorado State’s gold team one more time this season on Oct. 30 in Boulder.

Men's Hockey Dominates in Final Preseason Game

BOULDER, Colo. (9/25/10) – New faces for the Colorado Buffaloes hockey team lit up the lamp to help the varsity squad defeat the junior varsity team 9-1 on Saturday at the CU Ice Arena in the final tune up before the regular season.

Three rookies had goals for the varsity team with Scott Seale and Charlie Coleman scoring once and Alex Lencioni scoring twice. Veterans Conor Williams, A.J. Koller and Bill Haege also scored in the final preseason game for CU.

Varsity head coach Ken Fikis and the rest of the coaching staff will make their final roster decisions in the upcoming week before the Buffs begin the 2010-11 campaign next weekend.

Colorado will open the regular season on Friday Oct. 1 at the University of Denver at 9:15 p.m. at Joy Burns Ice Arena. The Buffs will have their home opener at the CU Ice Arena the following night, Saturday Oct. 2, against Utah State at 7:15 p.m.

Parking will be limited for the home opener as the Colorado-Georgia football game is on the same day.

After the Buffs are done on the gridiron though, stop by the CU Student Recreation Center to watch the hockey team begin their quest for a national championship. Admission to the home opener is $5 for the general public and $3 for students with a Buff One Card.

New Faces On CU Buffs Baseball Team

Courtesy: CU Sports Mag, 9/17/10

Women's Soccer Plays to 2-2 Draw versus Rams

FORT COLLINS, Colo. (9/17/10) -- For the second time in a week the Colorado Buffaloes women's club soccer team couldn't top Colorado State as both teams played to a 2-2 tie on Friday night.

Going into stoppage time it looked like CU was going to get revenge over the Rams from their loss in the Rocky Mountain College Cup on Sept. 11 as they were up 2-1 late. However CSU scored in the first minute of extra time to force the draw.

Next up for Colorado is the CU Invitational that they will host from Thursday Sept. 23 to Sunday Sept. 26 in Boulder. Other than the three CU squads, the teams that will be competing at the tournament include St. Louis, Northern Colorado, Arizona, Salt Lake Community College, Western State, Laramie County Community College, Nebraska, Bradley, Colorado State, California, Colorado School of Mines, Western Nebraska Community College, Southern California, and Denver.

CU Snowboarding Movie Premieres Sept. 27

BOULDER (9/20/10) -- The premiere of the University of Colorado snowboard team's (CUST) latest movie, "Degrees," will be on Monday Sept. 27 at 7 p.m. in CHEM 140 on the CU-Boulder campus.

The evening will include a double dose of high flying shred action with two movies being shown, "Degrees," and the latest video from 4Reel Media, "Dub Reel." Both movies are free to the public.

"Degrees" features the best footage of CUST from the past snow season as the team dominated the snow at resorts such as Breckenridge and Keystone and in the backcountry at Jones and Berthoud Pass.

"We show the movie right before winter to get people excited and stoked for the upcoming season," said Brendan Browne, the President of CUST. "Come out for a good night that features the best snowboarders at CU."

The CU snowboard team has a reputation of being one of the best collegiate squads in the nation with them having never finished lower than second place at nationals.

On Monday the Buffs began to prepare for the upcoming season on trampolines, diving boards and skateboards as part of the team's dry land training. The squad will begin snow training after Thanksgiving.

For more information on the CU snowboard team and to watch the trailer of "Degrees," go to http://www.cusnowboarding.com/.

Men's Hockey Opens Preseason Versus T-Birds

BOULDER (9/17/10) – The Colorado Buffaloes hockey team and the Colorado Thunderbirds Midget Minor U18 AAA team played to a 2-2 tie on Friday night at the CU Ice Arena in the first of three preseason games for the Buffs as they prepare for the 2010-11 campaign.

With the game tied at one, Jordan Lockner scored with under two minute left to give CU the late lead, but the Thunderbirds found the back of the Buffs cage with 13 second remaining to end the game in a draw.

“I thought we played fairly well considering this is our first time out this year,” said CU head coach Ken Fikis. “I wasn’t real happy with some of the penalties. We tried to tell our kids that we played a very young team and there is no reason why we should be going into the box.”

Mike Nunley also scored for the Buffs with Andrew Gillis, Mark Viau and Alex Lencioni picking up assists.

The Thunderbirds took an early lead in the game with them beating CU goaltender Kevin Litinsky 5:58 into the first period on a goal from Landon Smith.

Nunley evened the game at one after he scored with 3:03 left in the second.

With 1:46 remaining in regulation it looked like CU was going to come away with the 2-1 victory after Lockner picked up the loose puck in the crease and shot it into the open area of the net while the T-Bird goalie was out of position.

However the Thunderbirds forced the draw in the contest after Christian Heil tied the game with 13.4 seconds left before the final buzzer. The game ended after the third period with no overtime being played.

Both teams struggled on the power play with Colorado going 1-for-9 with the man advantage and the Thunderbirds going 1-for-12.

The Buffs and the Thunderbirds squared off again on Saturday afternoon at Big Bear Ice Arena in Aurora with the T-Birds getting the 9-2 win over CU. Most of Colorado’s veteran players did not play in the game.

Colorado has one more preseason game left before their season opener with them taking on the CU D-III team in an inter squad matchup on Saturday Sept. 25 at the CU Ice Arena.

CU opens the 2010-11 campaign on Oct. 1 against the University of Denver at Joy Burns Ice Arena at 9:15 p.m. The Buffs will have their home opener the next night versus the Utah State Aggies at the CU Ice Arena.

Scoring Summary

1^st Period

5:58 T-Birds Landon Smith, assisted from Austin Ortega and Dylan Bozeman

2^nd Period

16:30 CU Mike Nunley, assisted from Andrew Gillis

3^rd Period

18:14 CU Jordan Lockner, assisted from Mark Viau and Alex Lencioni – PP

19:47 T-Birds Christian Heil, assisted from Jerad Tafoya – PP

Click here to watch the postgame interview with CU head coach Ken Fikis.

Click here to watch the postgame interview with CU defenseman Scott Cooley.

Racquetball Host Successful In-House Tournament

BOULDER (9/13/10) – The Colorado Buffaloes racquetball team competed in an in-house tournament over the weekend with 27 participants showing up and competing in beginner, intermediate and advanced round-robin style play.

"I host this tournament at the beginning of every semester to accomplish three things: 1) everyone gets to meet everyone else, 2) collect dues and paper work so they can play, and 3) I find out who's interested in competing against other schools and rank players," said CU Racquetball coach Jeff Jungk.

With only four courts to play on, a modified scoring system was used in order to give everyone a chance to compete. In the end it was much like a tie-breaker game in a tournament with players needing to win one game in order to move on.

Currently there are close to 40 members in the club and in order to give everyone court time, Jungk has created a racquetball challenge ladder on the team’s website so players can compete against each other outside of practice.

The Buffs' next competition will be an intercollegiate tournament on Sept. 25 in Colorado Springs. Nationals will be held on April 6-9 in Tempe, Ariz.

CU Racquetball website:  http://www.colorado.edu/StudentGroups/rbclub/?DB_OEM_ID=600

Men's Soccer Tops CSU in 3-0 Shutout to Win College Cup

COMMERCE CITY, Colo. (9/11/10) - Striker Ben Stump had two goals, goalkeeper Cameron Mirabedini made seven saves and the Colorado Buffaloes men’s club soccer team shutout the Colorado State Rams 3-0 on Saturday at Dicks Sporting Goods Park.

“The guys were really nervous before the game,” said CU head coach Dave Vaughn. “It was tense in the locker room. There was not a lot of smiling, not a lot of laughing. Once we broke the ice a little bit, got them to relax, I thought we played well. I thought we gave the best effort we could this early in the season.”

The three goal victory also helped crown the University of Colorado as the first ever Rocky Mountain College Cup champion. The winner of the cup was decided by the total goals scored by both schools in the men’s and women’s varsity games.

However the CU men had to stage a comeback to help the university win the cup as CSU took an early lead after the women’s team fell 2-1 to the Rams earlier in the day. Both CU’s men’s and women’s teams will be honored for their achievement at the Colorado Rapids’ next home game on Sept. 18 versus the New England Revolution.

With the win CU improves to 2-0 to start the year while CSU drops to 1-1 on the season.

Colorado began the scoring in the 18^th minute when Ryan Zubizaretta had the ball near midfield and passed it nearly 30 yards into the box to Connor Hutchinson who fired it top shelf to give the Buffaloes the early advantage.

The Buffs outshot the Rams 18-13 in the game with Hutchinson leading the way with six shots towards CSU keeper Daniel Sidder. Colorado had eight shots on goal in the game while CSU had one less with seven.

In the first half the Buffs defense kept the Rams offense in check with them only allowing their rival to muster three shots on net in the period. CSU had four shots in the second half, all of which came in the final 15 minutes.

Colorado found the back of the net again in the 41^st minute after Stump grabbed a rebound ball in the box from a shot by Daniel Campbell and fired it past Sidder for the 2-0 lead and some assurance.

“Once we got that second one right before the half we were able to come out into the second half with some pretty good confidence,” Stump said.

Stump’s second goal of the night came in the 61^st minute when Campbell fed him the ball as he was streaking past two CSU defenders which gave him enough space to shoot it into the far side of the net.

Though Colorado made the most of their scoring opportunities, both teams had plenty of chances. CSU had the first chance in the 11^th minute when Nathan Fleming beat a CU defender in the box, but his sliding shot aimed at the far goalpost went just a bit wide. Two minutes later the Buffs had their first good chance on net as Hutchinson’s shot hit off the Rams’ crossbar from about 20 yards away.

In extra time in the first half, Colorado State had their chance to cut the Buffs’ lead down to one but Fleming’s shot nailed off the crossbar and went wide.

With less than 15 minutes remaining the Rams were once again denied, but this time from good goaltending by Mirabedini. The freshman goalie made four late saves including one in the 81^st minute where he had to jump straight up in the air and deflect the ball over the net with one hand.

Though the Buffs can feel good about beating their instate rival, Vaughan said now his squad needs to continue that solid effort they played with for the rest of the season.

“It certainly sets the bar with how good we can play,” Vaughan said. “The objective now is to consistently play at this level here on out.”

Earlier in the day during the junior varsity match, the Rams’ B team got the better of the Buffs black team, winning 2-0.

Next up for Colorado is their alumni game on Sunday at 5 p.m. at Franklin Field on the CU-Boulder campus before they return to collegiate competition on Sept. 24 against the Northern Colorado Bears in Greeley.

Colorado’s varsity squad will face the CSU A team one more time this season on Oct. 29 in Fort Collins.

Scoring Summery

18’ – CU Connor Hutchinson, assist from Ryan Zubizarreta (0-1)

41’ – CU Ben Stump, unassisted (0-2)

61’ – CU Ben Stump, assist from Daniel Campbell (0-3)

CU Women's Club Soccer Falls to CSU in Rocky Mountain College Cup

COMMERCE CITY, Colo. (9/11/10) – The Colorado Buffaloes women’s club soccer team dropped a 2-1 battle with the Colorado State Rams on Saturday in the Rocky Mountain College Cup at Dicks Sporting Goods Park.

Though CSU took the early lead in the cup competition that featured games by both schools’ men’s and women’s club varsity squads, CU would go on to win the inaugural event thanks to the men’s team’s 3-0 shutout victory later in the evening.

Sophomore Tara Kissler scored the Buffs’ lone goal in the 61^st minute when she received a nice cross pass from Megan Benjamin and fired the ball top shelf to make it a 2-1 game.

Colorado head coach Dorian Barnes said his team was a little tense to start the game, but they finally settled down and began to play their type of soccer in the second half.

“Coming into a venue like this and playing an arch rival, there was a lot of emotions behind the game, a lot of the nerves probably played part of the fact, but in the second half we calmed down a little bit and started playing the way that I know we know how to play,” Barnes said. “I think we controlled a lot of the play (in the second half), we got a very nice goal from Tara Kissler and we felt for the last 30-35 minutes we had an opportunity to come back, it just didn’t come in for us.”

Early on in the game Colorado looked like the better of the two squads as they controlled the ball down in the CSU zone and had a few good shots that were stopped by goalkeeper Danica Hansen.

The Buffs’ failure to score early left the door wide open for the Rams as they capitalized in the 14^th minute with a goal from Taylor Grillo on only their second shot in the game. Katheryne Fitzpatrick assisted on the goal for Colorado State.

CSU took a 2-0 lead in the 57^th minute when during a Rams corner kick the ball found the foot of Holly Hoguta and flied past CU keeper Jenna Greenwood for the goal.

Following Kissler’s goal to make it a 2-1 game, the Buffs began to put more pressure on the Rams in an attempt to get the equalizer.

“We definitely picked it up after (the goal),” Kissler said. “Everyone got a little more fire in them.”

CU’s best chance to tie came in the 78^th minute when Kissler’s shot was denied in the box by Hansen. However the Rams keeper couldn’t gain control of the ball with Becky Santiago picking up the rebound. Unfortunately her shot flied over the net.

Santiago had two more chances within 20 yards in the final 10 minutes but both shots went wide of the goal.

Colorado did better Colorado State in both shot categories in the game as they outshot the Rams 15-10 overall and 9-6 in shots on goal on a beautiful afternoon that featured clear skies and temperatures in the low 80’s.

The loss drops Colorado’s record to 1-1 on the season while Colorado State remains undefeated at now 3-0.

CU used two goalkeepers in the game with Betsy Builder playing the first half and Greenwood taking the reins over between the pipes in the second. Both goalies finished with two saves each.

The Buffs did beat the Rams in the junior varsity game right before, winning 2-0.

Both schools varsity teams will face each other two more times this season with the Buffs looking for some redemption against the Ram next Friday in Fort Collins. They’re final meeting of the year will come on Oct. 30 in Boulder.

Next up for Colorado is their alumni game on Sunday at 11 a.m. at Franklin Field on the CU-Boulder campus. Their next home game will be on Sept. 19 versus the CSU JV squad.

Scoring Summary

14’ – CSU Taylor Grillo, assist from Katheryne Fitzpatrick (1-0)

57’ – CSU Holly Hoguta, unassisted (2-0)

61’ – CU Tara Kissler, assist from Megan Benjamin (2-1)

Men's Rugby Strong in Wyoming

LARAMIE, Wyo. (9/11/10) - The University of Colorado men's rugby club traveled north to Laramie, Wyo. for the annual Jackalope tournament. With three teams entered and a compliment of over 60 players making the trip it was a strong showing for the Buffs.
The three teams played in a combined eight games and finished the day with a 5-3 record.

The Buffs continue their fall campaign on Sunday Sept. 26 when they travel to Greeley to face the Bears of Northern Colorado at noon. Men's Rugby website

Men's Rugby Open Season with Two Wins

BOULDER (9/6/10) - The Colorado Buffaloes men's rugby team began their fall season with a rousing 43-23 Friday night victory over  the Boulder Rugby Club.  Starting choppy, the Buffaloes were only able to muster a lone try and penalty kick to find themselves trailing 12-8 at the half.

Some quality mid-game adjustments saw CU come to life and poke in several scores in the second half to run out to a good lead and never look back.

On Sunday the Buffs added another victory with a hard fought win over the Colorado School of Mines. CU travels north to Laramie, Wyo. this weekend for the annual Jackalope tournament to continue their fall development. CU Rugby website