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 18th 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 41st 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 61st 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 11th 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 81st 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)
