Richardson gets No. 450 at UCCS' expense

Legendary Colorado College coach Horst Richardson won his 450th career match as the Tigers defeated the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs Mountain Lions 3-1 Saturday at CCâ€^TMs Stewart Field.

UCCS came out lifeless. Offensively, players would make successful runs down the wings but the support up the middle was slow. As a result, the crossing passes found the only players who were there â€" all of whom played for Colorado College.

“(The effort) was pretty pathetic as a team,” said senior defender Matt Lay. “We came out slow. We didnâ€^TMt have any buildup or people moving off the ball.”

Richardson, who is in his 39th season as the Tigersâ€^TM coach, saw his team improve to 6-5-1 amid the festive atmosphere of Colorado Collegeâ€^TMs homecoming weekend. UCCS is now 5-5-1.

The Mountain Lions put eight shots on goal, but Colorado College goalkeeper David Khuen (6-4) was able to stop six of them. The sophomore from Boston, Mass., came into Saturdayâ€^TMs match with five shutouts and a 0.71 goals against average to his credit.

Colorado College scored the first halfâ€^TMs only goal in the 21st minute on a spectacular play. Julian Holscher posted up 20 yards in front of the UCCS goal and headed an entry pass to Ben Beadle Ryby. Without breaking stride, Beadle-Ryby headed the ball past UCCS goalkeeper Justin Elliott (0-1-1).

Immediately upon grabbing the lead, Colorado College went ultra-conservative. The Tigers sagged back into the defensive end and when they gained possession, they sent long balls over the top for their speedy forwards to track down.

“They just packed it in,” said Lay. “They didnâ€^TMt man mark or anything like that.”

Still, when the Mountain Lions had possession, they struggled to make their customary through passes. More distressing was that UCCS, which has dominated the air so far this season, was consistently beaten on headers.

“They didnâ€^TMt take us out of our game,” said Lay. “We took us out of our game.”

Colorado College made it 2-0 in the 61st minute when Pat Fagan hit an arcing left-footer on a free kick from 20 yards that bent around the UCCS defensive wall and nestled into the upper left hand corner of the goal.

The Mountain Lions closed the gap in the 65th minute when Jeff Moore tracked down a long ball from Brian Best and drilled it in from 12 yards. The shot was so good, Khuen sought out Moore after the match to compliment him.

“(The pass) came from Brian Best. It was all his work,” said Moore modestly. “It was just one of those things where you have to put shots on goal.”

With UCCS pressing to tie, the Mountain Lions gave Colorado College a gift. Best had difficulty handling a pass from goalkeeper Chris Hovasse, who replaced Elliott at halftime. Best tried to chip the ball past Holscher, but instead it his the junior from Goettingen, Germany in the thigh and deflected past Best. With Hovasse well away from his net, Holscher easily lobbed the ball over his head and into the goal.