Colorado stayed in the race for the Pac-12 title with a dramatic overtime win over Cal in a battle of Top 25 women's teams on Sunday. The Buffaloes blew a 2-0 lead in the second half but came back to
win, 3-2, on a golden goal by Taylor Kornieck off a free kick from
Stephanie Zuniga with two seconds left in overtime.
The win came three days after a 2-0 loss to Stanford handed
Colorado its first conference loss of the season. Colorado, Stanford and USC are all 7-1-0 with two weeks left in the regular season. The Pac-12 does not hold a conference tournament.
Danica Evans scored twice for the second time in the past three matches to give Colorado a 2-0 lead, but
Maggie Bell and
Ifeoma Onumonu scored in the 88th and 89th minutes to even
the score.
On the winning goal, Zuniga rushed to take the free kick from near midfield and found the head of Kornieck in the box. It was the latest game-winning goal scored in CU history.
Kornieck now has six game-winning goals this season and 11 goals, tied with Utah's
Hailey Skolmoski for the conference lead.
"I thought we played well in the second half," said
Colorado coach Danny Sanchez. "Danica of course scored two great goals, but Cal was putting so much pressure on us. Like I told the team, to give up two late goals like that is really just a punch in
the gut and it took us a few minutes to bounce back. I think the best thing that happened at that point was [regulation] ended and we were able to regroup in overtime. I thought in overtime, we just
played them straight-up and we wanted to get the three points. Cal is such a great team and so dangerous. To get the late goal by Taylor on a great service from Stephanie is a fantastic result against
a good team on the road."