--WSU Football plays in Boulder vs. Colorado tonight.
--Coug Soccer blasts Montana, 5-1, in NCAA tourney opening
round last night in Pullman. Next for WSU is a match vs. winner of #1 Georgetown
vs. Central Connecticut State. That competition commenced at 9 o’clock this
(Saturday) morning.
………..
Opportunity knocking for CU Buffs Football once again
Colorado takes aim at bowl eligibility — again — as No. 10
Washington State visits
By Brian Howell BuffZone.com
………….
Game at a Glance
Matchup: No. 10 Washington State Cougars (8-1, 5-1 Pac-12)
at Colorado Buffaloes (5-4, 2-4 Pac-12)
Kickoff: 1:35 p.m. MT
Where: Folsom Field in Boulder. Capacity: 50,183. Turf:
Grass.
TV: ESPN
Odds: Washington State by 6
Coaches: Colorado — Mike MacIntyre, 6th season (30-42; 46-63
career); Washington State — Mike Leach, 7th season (46-39; 130-82 career).
Series: Colorado leads 6-5; series tied 3-3 in Boulder
………………..
Opportunity has come knocking on Colorado's door quite a bit
over the past couple of years.
Each time, the Buffaloes have failed to take advantage.
On Saturday, they get another chance.
While a once-promising season seems to be slipping away from
the CU football team, the Buffaloes (5-4, 2-4 Pac-12) welcome No. 10 Washington
State (8-1, 5-1) to Folsom Field with the opportunity to get a season-changing
victory.
Win this one, and the Buffs not only achieve bowl
eligibility, but take momentum into their final two games.
"I think it's always a good opportunity," senior
linebacker Rick Gamboa said of playing a top-10 team. "I think everybody
is excited. It's one of those brick games you always have on the wall.
Everybody is excited about Washington State coming in and having that crowd;
playing at Folsom definitely does help."
No doubt, being at home helps, but the Buffs enter this one
as wounded team — physically and, perhaps, emotionally.
The Buffs have lost the swagger they gained from a 5-0 start
to the season. They've lost four in a row and will try to avoid become the
first team in school history to post a five-game winning streak and a five-game
losing streak in the same season.
Gamboa said there's a sense of urgency among the players,
especially the seniors, and MacIntyre believes the fight hasn't left this
group.
Colorado quarterback
Steven Montez said the Buffs need to play their best football against the
Cougars.
Colorado quarterback Steven Montez said the Buffs need to
play their best football against the Cougars. (Christian Petersen / Getty
Images)
"You can work maybe without being as happy because
you've lost and I see that work ethic," he said. "If they're just
goofing off out there, I'd be like, 'Wait a minute.' I've seen a work ethic,
I've seen them holding each other accountable, I've seen them showing up to
everything."
Mentally, the Buffs might still be engaged in the fight, but
physically, they have been in rough shape.
Star receiver Laviska Shenault injured his toe Oct. 13 at
USC and has missed the last three games. His status for Saturday is unknown.
Receivers KD Nixon (hip) and Jay MacIntyre (concussion) left
last week's 42-34 loss at Arizona with injuries. Strong safety Evan Worthington
(concussion) has missed the last game and a half. Those three may or may not
suit up Saturday.
Cornerback Chris Miller (thumb), linebacker Jacob Callier
(shoulder) and defensive lineman Jase Franke (knee) are all out for the year.
The Buffs are also down two kickers and a punter.
Two weeks ago, after a loss to Washington, MacIntyre said:
"We're not going to make excuses about who is there or not there."
This week, he changed his tune. When asked if this is the
most difficult stretch of his career, he said, it's been tough, but quickly
pointed to the injuries.
"That makes it tough when you're playing really good
football teams and you have key, key, key players going down," he said.
No question, the injuries have impacted CU, but for the
Buffs to stop the bleeding and get back on the winning track, they've got to
figure out a way to rise above that and do something that's been out of
character for MacIntyre's teams by beating a top-notch opponent.
MacIntyre's CU teams are 5-37 as underdogs and 2-18 against
ranked opponents (both wins coming with CU as the higher ranked team).
Including his three years at San Jose State, MacIntyre is 2-25 against ranked
foes.
On top of that, the Buffs are 0-7 in the past year when
playing for bowl eligibility, including 0-4 this year.
The Cougars, of course, aren't unbeatable. Even the
oddsmakers in Las Vegas give CU a solid chance, as the Buffs were only a
six-point underdog as of Friday.
In the wacky Pac-12, anything can — and has — happened this
season. For CU, the chance to do the unexpected is there again.
To finally seize the opportunity in front of them, the Buffs
have to brush aside the excuses and do what they haven't done in several weeks.
"We have to play our best football," quarterback
Steven Montez said.
:::::::::::::::
WSU FOOTBALL The pick: Why Washington State will beat
Colorado
Sat., Nov. 10, 2018, 5 a.m.
By Theo Lawson of the Spokesman-Review of Spokane/Inland
Empire
Washington State-Colorado game will feature teams with
contrasting styles: one that can close, one that can’t
Two minute drill: Keys to victory for Washington State
against Colorado
PAC-12 FOOTBALL
At Folsom Field, Boulder, Colorado
➤Saturday, Nov. 10:
Washington State Cougars at Colorado Buffaloes, 12:30 p.m. PST TV: ESPN
BOULDER, Colo. – At the outset of the 2018 football season,
betting on Washington State to beat Colorado in a week 11 game at Folsom Field
would’ve been a risky gamble at best. And probably even a little misinformed.
The Buffaloes were an experienced offensive unit with a steady hand at
quarterback, junior Steven Montez, and a few explosive receivers – one of which
had yet to break onto the scene as a Heisman Trophy candidate. Even after five
games, while the Buffaloes were unbeaten at 5-0 and the Cougars were
overachieving at 4-1– not in their minds, but in everybody else’s – CU over WSU
would’ve felt like a safe pick at the sportsbook. But right after the Game Five
checkpoint is when the Buffs started to spiral, while the Cougars continued to
climb. CU’s defense has been unsuccessful against offenses much less potent
than WSU’s. The Cougars have proven to be a resilient team in tight games,
while the Buffaloes have mostly backed away from those types of moments. It
would’ve been easy to go with the Buffs in Week One. It’s almost impossible
now.
The pick: Washington State 44, Colorado 31.
“”””””””””””””””””””””
Football Washington State-Colorado game will feature teams
with contrasting styles: one that can close, one that can’t
UPDATED: Fri., Nov. 9, 2018, 8:38 p.m.
By Theo Lawson, S-R
BOULDER, Colo. – Mike Leach may have been trying to inspire
confidence in the small crowd of Washington State fans gathered at Zeppoz
Casino Thursday evening for the coach’s weekly radio show when he was asked to
handicap a fight between cougars and buffaloes.
No, not the Cougars and the Buffaloes, who’ll be clashing
Saturday at 12:30 p.m. on a football field in Boulder, Colorado. Actual cougars
and actual buffaloes.
A head-to-head duel between the predatory mountain cat and
the mighty grassland ox. Who wins?
“Oh, well, a cougar,” Leach responded, without hesitation.
That might just be the company line, but Leach still roused
the small bowling alley/gambling joint by choosing the mascot of his
10th-ranked Washington State football team rather than the one of their
opponent.
“(The cougar) would find a way,” Leach said. “Hopefully, it
wouldn’t take till the fourth quarter.”
That, to be sure, is a reference to the football Cougars –
the 2018 ones, to be exact.
And here’s why:
In four of WSU’s last five wins, the Cougars have needed to
execute a late touchdown drive, kick a winning field goal or hold on for dear
life as they’ve sent their defense back on the field to preserve a small lead.
WSU probably spoiled its fanbase in the early stages of the season, beating
Wyoming, San Jose State and Eastern Washington by resounding margins – 41-19,
31-0 and 59-24, respectively.
Four of the last six games have been decided by six points
or less: a 39-36 loss at USC, a 28-24 win over Utah, a 41-38 win over Stanford
and a 19-13 win over Cal.
Unnerving as it’s been for the WSU coach, his staff and
every fan wearing a crimson T-shirt or artificial mustache, the Cougars have,
as Leach said, always found a way. But why wait til the fourth? And at what
point will their late-game mojo run out?
WSU (8-1, 5-1), ranked No. 10 in the AP Top 25 and No. 8 in
the College Football Playoff ranking, is off to its best start since 2002 and
will be gunning for its sixth consecutive win at Folsom Field. Colorado (5-4,
2-4) is carrying a different sort of streak into the contest and has to snap
out of a four-game skid to finally become bowl eligible.
The 5-4 Buffaloes are only a few plays away from being 7-2,
though, and had they beat Oregon State and Arizona, they’d be in control of the
tightly contested Pac-12 South. Each of their last two games were decided by
one touchdown. CU is probably still lamenting a squandered chance two weeks ago
at home against OSU, when the Buffaloes allowed the Beavers to rally back from
a 31-3 deficit and win 41-34 in overtime.
A key ingredient in each of the last three losses – to
Washington, OSU and Arizona – has been CU’s lack of closing ability. In those
three games, the Buffaloes were outscored 48-3 in the fourth quarter and
overtime.
“You need to play well in the fourth quarter if you want to
win tight ballgames,” CU coach Mike MacIntyre said. “That’s definitely
something we need to do. We need to finish off a game. … There will be a time
we need to hold the ball and finish the game off. There will be a time we need
to come from behind and go win it.”
On the flip side, WSU and fifth-year graduate transfer
quarterback Gardner Minshew have developed a flair for the dramatic. The
Cougars are seemingly able to manufacture fourth-quarter excellence on command
at this point – and the final period of the game has easily been their best. In
the last five games, the Cougars have outscored the opposition 58-16.
“I think this team’s super unique,” Minshew said. “A lot of
times when you’re in that situation that many times, it’s tough. But we’ve
developed such a confidence in that situation right now where it can go down to
the wire, but we have the belief we’re going to win and that definitely helps.
Both sides of the ball, we know we’re going to make a stop when we need to or
we’re going to score when we need to.
“I think that belief takes us a long way.”
But if somehow the cougar can slay the buffalo in two or
three quarters, it’d be all the better.
:::::::::::::::::::;
SOCCER Cougars crush Grizzlies at NCAAs
Been there, done that: Washington State soccer team advances
at NCAA tournament for second straight season
By Stephan Wiebe, Moscow Pullman Daily News Nov 10, 2018
About 750 fans braved the cold to watch the Cougars
dismantle Montana 5-1.
Washington State qualified for its seventh NCAA appearance
in the last eight seasons and it looked like a team that'd been there before.
The Cougars outshot the Grizzlies 33-6 - 11 coming from
Pac-12 all-conference first-teamer Morgan Weaver - and scored four goals in the
second half.
"Super proud of these girls," Washington State
coach Todd Shulenberger said. "What a great result to start off. Credit to
the girls, but credit to this conference the Pac-12 is a different beast. We've
seen each game an increase in our performance."
Freshman forward Hailey Smith notched two assists and the
goal of the night for the Cougars (13-5-1), who also tallied goals from Weaver,
Brianna Alger, Alysha Overland and Gracie Armstrong. The Grizzlies (7-9-6)
received their lone goal from Kennedy Yost late in the second half.
On Smith's goal, freshman defender Elaily Hernandez-Repreza
floated a cross into the box and Smith powered in the goal before the ball
touched the ground. It was freshman-to-freshman to make it 4-0 WSU in the 64th
minute just two minutes after Smith connected with Overland for her second
assist.
"It was amazing and it came on an assist from my best
friend, so that was (awesome)," Smith said.
"She's too humble," Shulenberger said, sitting
next to Smith in the postgame press conference. "How about that goal? It
came on a volley out of the air. That was a first-class goal tonight."
After a slow start - goal-wise, not shot-wise - the Cougars
scored their first goal when Smith cruised into the box from the right side and
found Alger on the near corner for the tap-in in the 36th minute.
Weaver finally got a goal on her 10th shot early in the
second half for a 2-0 WSU lead, and from there it was all Cougars.
"I think in the beginning we were a little frantic and
throughout the game we kinda just talked to each other, brought each other over
and we were like, 'Hey, we've got this. We need to calm down a little bit,'
" Weaver said. "And I think we started to really pick it up in the
second half."
The injury-riddled Cougars started October 0-5 after a
record 10-0 start to the season. But a win over Washington and a tie against
No. 1 Stanford helped the Cougars earn a host game in the NCAA tournament.
Among the Cougars injuries were 2017 all-conference goalie
Ella Dederick and 2018 third-teamer Maegan O'Neill, and it began to look like
WSU's season might collapse.
"We had some unfortunate injuries that took place and
we started to feel sorry for ourselves," Shulenberger said. "We had
to reevaluate our lineup (and) we had to stop feeling sorry for
ourselves."
Players like Smith, junior goalie Rachel Thompson and others
stepped up and Weaver notched a hat trick against Washington - and suddenly WSU
was looking more like the team that started 10-0.
In total, five Pac-12 teams qualified for the NCAA
tournament and they combined to outscore opponents 25-1 in the first round.
USC, UCLA, Stanford and Arizona all won Friday.
"Disappointed we only got five teams in,"
Shulenberger said. "This conference deserves more. The balance of this
conference is topped notch and the amount we outscored opponents tonight is
impressive."
For Montana, the Big Sky Conference champions, the NCAA
appearance was its first since 2011.
"Congratulations to Washington State - they were
outstanding in the second half," Montana coach Chris Citowicki said.
"I know they're going through a lot of adversity with players missing
right now. How they performed was absolutely amazing. I thought it caused us a
lot of issues and we just couldn't find ourselves in this environment."
The Cougars will play Friday at some location in the East,
against the winner of today's match between Georgetown and Central Connecticut
State.
Washington St. 1 4-5
Montana 0 1-1
Washington St. - Brianna Alger (Hailey Smith), 36th.
Washington St. - Morgan Weaver (Shayna Whieldon), 49th.
Washington St. - Alysha Overland (Hailey Smith; Maddy Haro),
61st.
Washington St. - Hailey Smith (El Hernandez-Repreza), 64th.
Washington St. - Gracie Armstrong, 83rd.
Montana - Kennedy Yost, 85th.
Shots - Montana 6, Washington St. 33.
Saves - Montana: Claire Howard 7; Washington State: Rachel
Thompson 1, Emma Dahline 0.
::::::::::::::::::
SOCCER Five different players score as Washington State
opens NCAA Tournament with 5-1 rout of Montana
UPDATED: Fri., Nov. 9, 2018, 11:35 p.m.
By William Brock for The Spokesman-Review
PULLMAN – Vanquishing the ghost of home playoff games past,
the WSU woman’s soccer team put Montana to the sword Friday night in a clinical
5-1 display of domination. In fairness, it could have been worse.
With the win, the Cougars advance to face the winner of
Saturday’s contest between undefeated Georgetown and Central Connecticut State.
Montana proved little more than a speed bump on the Cougars’
run into the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Gracious in victory, WSU
coach Todd Shulenberger lauded the opposition before putting his team’s victory
in perspective.
“Credit to the girls, but credit to this conference as
well,” Shulenberger said. “They’re (Montana) a great team, don’t get me wrong.
They did a great job this year with what they did. But the Pac-12 is a
different beast.”
Tidy in possession and brimming with intent, the home team
kept the Griz penned in their own half for most of the match. Five goals from
five different players suggests the Cougs are not wholly dependent on
talismanic striker Morgan Weaver who, almost inevitably, scored the winning
goal – her 13th of the season.
While the biggest threat faced by WSU goalkeeper Rachel
Thompson was frostbite, the Montana defense was continually stretched by the
cunning passes of WSU playmaker Maddy Haro and the quicksilver running of
Weaver.
Montana soaked up a lot of pressure in the early going,
surrendering a string of half-chances while managing to keep the hosts at bay.
WSU’s intensity began to build and, in the 23rd minute, a well-worked corner
kick saw Weaver unleash a venomous strike which the keeper could only parry.
WSU’s intensity continued to mount and redshirt junior
Alysha Overland clanked a shot off the Montana crossbar shortly before Hailey
Smith engineered WSU’s opening goal in the 36th minute. Nearing the byline, the
freshman forward skipped past her marker, then arrowed in a low shot from a
tight angle. WSU’s Brianna Alger was first to react, subtly altering the ball’s
trajectory to evade the Montana keeper’s despairing dive.
The first half ended 1-0, but Weaver killed the game off a
mere three minutes after the interval. The junior forward – the second
highest-scorer in the nation – showed wonderful control in running at the
Montana defense, working the ball onto her left foot, then launching a
thunderbolt from just outside the penalty area.
With the score 2-0, WSU shifted into game management mode,
soaking up pressure and waiting patiently for counter attacking opportunities.
In the 61st minute, Haro’s free kick from the left allowed
Overland to win a goalmouth scramble and nudge the ball in from close range.
Less than three minutes later, Elaily Hernandez-Repreza swung in a cross from
the left and Hailey Smith made it 4-0 with a near post header.
Finally, in the 83rd minute, Gracie Armstrong applied the
coup-de-grace to make it 5-0.
Montana’s lone goal, scored in the 85th minute, was too
little, too late.
:::::::::::::::::
SOCCER
Montana Grizzlies bounced from NCAA women's soccer
tournament with 5-1 loss to Washington State
By FRANK GOGOLA, Missoulian
PULLMAN, Wash. — The Montana soccer team spent the majority
of its NCAA tournament first-round game in the defensive half and lost to Washington
State, 5-1, on Friday at Lower Soccer Field on Washington State’s campus.
“Expecting something more of a 4-4-2 (formation). They came
out in a 4-2-3-1,” Montana head coach Chris Citowicki said. “They denied balls
into our center forward quite well, forced us to play slightly differently. It
was a good game plan. It was effective. We still should have been a bit better
with our set pieces in the second half, but lesson learned.”
The Griz weathered an early storm but struggled with the
Cougars’ offensive pressure and gave up four goals in a 28-minute stretch
across the two halves. That ended their streak of three consecutive games with
a clean sheet. Hailey Smith led the way for Washington State with one goal and
two assists.
The Griz were out-shot 33-6 and 12-2 in shots on goal. They
went nearly 50 minutes without a shot attempt.
“A lot of our play is finding the forwards and dropping it
back to the midfield and getting the ball through. I think that was just hard
for us today,” sophomore defender Taylor Hansen said of going against the
4-2-3-1 formation.
With the loss, Big Sky Conference teams dropped to 1-20-2 in
the NCAA tournament.
Montana, playing in its first NCAA tournament since 2011,
qualified by knocking off three higher-seeded teams in five days at the Big Sky
Conference tournament last week, earning a rematch with Washington State, which
beat them 3-1 on Sept. 14.
This time, the Cougars were without sophomore forward
Makamae Gomera-Stevens, who scored two first-half goals in that September game,
because she picked up a red card in the most recent game for Washington State,
an at-large selection out of the Pac-12. The Cougars were also dealing with
injuries and stuck to the 4-2-3-1 they had been playing in recently.
“We’ve been in that for the last four games, so I didn’t
change anything,” Washington State coach Todd Shulenberger said. “We have
injuries, so we stuck to what I knew. We have more attackers than we do
midfielders right now. My personnel isn’t as deep right now in the midfield, so
I’ve got to play less midfielders and more forwards.”
Even with the injuries and without Gomera-Stevens, the
Cougars came out with a physical attack. Montana struggled to clear the ball
and was on its defensive half for the first seven minutes.
The Griz started to find some footing, and Ellie Otteson got
the game’s first shot on goal at the 11:14 mark. They earned the game’s first
corner kick, and Caitlin Rogers played the ball into Taryn Miller, who put a
header over the bar 19:12 into the contest.
Montana trailed 5-3 on shots at that point and couldn’t get
off a shot the rest of the half. Washington State had the next 17 shots before
the intermission.
Griz goalie Claire Howard saved a shot by Morgan Weaver from
the top of the box, and defender Avery Adams cleared it while taking a shot
from a Washington State defender in the 22nd minute. The Griz caught a break
four minutes later when Molly Myers found herself in a one-on-one situation
with Howard but put a shot wide right.
Montana’s defense cracked in the final 10 minutes of the
half. Smith dribbled the ball along the right end line, played it down the line
and Brianna Alger redirected it past Howard, who was standing at the near post,
and into the net at the 35:48 mark.
Things went from bad to worse in the second half. The Griz
fell down 2-0 just 3:33 in when they turned the ball over in the defensive
half, and Washington State’s Weaver scored her 13th goal of the season, placing
her shot from the top of the box past a diving Howard.
“I think in the beginning we were a little nervous, a little
frantic” Weaver said of the first half. “I think throughout the game we kind of
just talked to each other, like brought each other over and were like, ‘Hey, we
got this. We need to calm down a little bit.’ I think it started to really pick
up in the second half.”
Montana went down 3-0 at 60:59 when Alysha Overland scored
off an assist by Smith on a loose ball in the box. The deficit became 4-0 at
63:02 when Smith received a pass from Elaily Hernandez-Repreza and kicked the
ball out of the air and into the net.
Griz senior Janessa Fowler ended a stretch of 48:38 without
a shot when she put a shot wide right at the 67:50 mark. Washington State’s
Gracie Armstrong tacked on the first goal of her career, in the 83rd minute.
Montana avoided the shutout when Kennedy Yost scored in the 85th minute, her
fifth of the season
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