Colorado survives K-State on the road
In the midst of a daunting Big 12 schedule, you’ll take wins where you can get them.
The Colorado Buffaloes (10-4-1, 4-3 Big 12) made sure that after Friday night, the Kansas State Wildcats (5-6-1, 0-6-1 Big 12) are still in search of their first conference win. Colorado took down the Wildcats 3-2 in a scrappy match.
K-State outshot the Buffs 18-13, but freshman Brooke Goerish made eight stops. Senior Reagan Kotschau had a penalty kick goal and recorded an assist in a three-point night.
Sophomore Lilian Zamorano had her second career goal, which proved to be the game-winner.
Though Colorado was outshot, it had more saves, more corner kicks and fewer fouls in a game where six different players had a yellow card shown.
"I think we created a lot of chances and scored some really good goals," head coach Danny Sanchez said after the game. "We responded well, and we managed the game at the end well."
All five goals came in the first 60 minutes, beginning with senior defender Emma Thielbahr’s header in the 19th minute off a Kotschau corner. She rose up to challenge a Kansas State defender and put in her third goal of the season.
The next goal was from the Wildcats, which came off Gabby DeMers’ foot in the 21st minute. A perfectly placed cross from Chloe Dillbeck found a streaking DeMers who snuck past the Colorado defense, giving Goerish no time to react and tying the game at 1-1.
Colorado wasted no time responding as Hope Leyba drew a foul inside the box just 62 seconds later, setting up a Kotschau penalty kick. A quick stutter step on the run-up from Kotschau didn’t fool K-State goalkeeper Maddie Sibbing, but the shot was more centered than Sibbing expected, the shot found nylon and put the Buffs back up 2-1.
Zamarano and senior Ruby Hayward both earned bookings before the half, but Colorado was ahead 2-1 heading to the locker room.
Less than two minutes out of the half, K-State’s adjustments worked, as DeMers put a shot off Goerish, who let up a rebound go right back to DeMers. She got off a pass towards the front of the net, which connected with Allison Marshall, who put it past a Colorado defense that was all out of sorts. The shot tied the game at 2-2.
Colorado began building back up momentum. It culminated in a lofted ball from Sloane Phillips that found the foot of Zamarano just inside the goalpost, to give the lead back to the Buffs, 3-2 in the 60th minute.
From there, the Wildcats attempted to claw their way out of the deficit, but three yellow cards in 12 minutes made momentum sluggish, and the Colorado defense shut it down.
"Credit K-State," Sanchez said. "They could have packed it in, and it was a fight to the last second."
Goerish was called on to make five stops in the final 30 minutes, including a big break in the final 30 seconds to seal the game.
The Buffs are in action next Thursday when they travel to Tucson, Arizona, to play the Arizona Wildcats (5-5-5, 2-1-3 Big 12). Kickoff is set for 8 p.m. MT (ESPN+).
Comments