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After a thrilling 3-2 overtime victory over Texas-El Paso on Friday kept Houston’s postseason hopes alive, the Cougars (6-10-1, 2-7-1 Conference USA) returned to earth on Sunday afternoon. The Cougars traveled to Colorado Springs and suffered a stinging 1-0 loss at the hands of the Colorado College Tigers, ending their hopes for a seed in the C-USA tournament.
The Tigers struck early in the seventh minute when sophomore forward Tiffany Brown made her way past multiple Cougar defenders before pushing the ball past Houston senior goalkeeper Shelby Scott for the early score – the only mistake in an otherwise stellar defensive effort by Scott, who collected eight saves on the day. The goal was Brown’s ninth on the season and third game-winner.
After enjoying their best offensive output in a game this season against the UTEP Miners since a 3-1 win over Sam Houston State on Aug. 29th, the Cougars weren’t able to overcome the lone goal of the match.
Houston senior forward Christine Nieva led the team with three shots and sophomore forward Lauri Byrne, freshman forward Jessica Zavalza and senior defender Maegan Kiphart each had two goals as the Cougars outshot the Tigers 8-4 in the second half. Once again though, as has been the case all season, not finishing their opportunities proved costly for the Cougars.
Houston came into the match needing wins in its remaining two games of the season to be in contention for a postseason berth, but came up just barely short.
Two nights earlier, the Cougars battled the Miners to a thrilling 3-2 overtime win. After a scoreless first half, both teams traded scores in the second half and eventually took a 2-2 draw into overtime. Byrne capped off the night by heading in a perfectly placed ball served from a free kick by Nieva.
UH sophomore defender Jessica Rathweg started the rare offensive onslaught that had eluded the Cougars all season by cashing in on a free kick in the 62nd minute just outside the penalty box for an early 1-0 lead. The Miners answered 10 minutes later when junior forward Tameka Sumter sent a ball far left and into the net past a diving Scott to even the score. In the 77th minute, the Cougars answered in a match that saw four lead changes as junior forward Nikki Echeverria crossed a ball from the right sideline that allowed Byrne to feed it to a charging Zavalza, who punched it in to regain the lead for the Cougars.
However, the Miners scored a late goal to even the score when Sumter took advantage of UTEP junior defender Jo Radcliffe’s cross into the penalty box and put the ball into the net for her second goal of the night in the 81st minute. The game then went into overtime, where Bryne and the Cougars prevailed 3-2.
Houston’s final regular season game will be against Rice at 7 p.m. Friday at Robertson Stadium.
