In the northeast corner of Prentup Field sits Colorado senior Alex Cousins' own personal cheering/coaching squad on CU soccer game days.

It came to good use on Sunday.

Late in the first half, the CU midfielder was making a run with the ball down the eastern sideline when she heard her dad, Marc.

"He was screaming at me, 'You only have one to beat. You only have one to beat.' So I looked up and saw that there was no defensive help behind her," Cousins said. "I took her on and I knew that my forwards would be in the box because we work on that every day in practice."

Cousins slipped past her defender and trusted that all that work in practice would pay off when she sent the ball sailing into the penalty box.

On cue, senior teammate Amber Bettenhausen made a run into the middle and redirected Cousins' cross into the back of the net.

At that point, Bettenhausen's goal gave Colorado a 2-0 lead against San Francisco, but more importantly it deflated the Dons and the Buffs went on to win 4-1.

Their 2-0 lead to start the second half allowed the Buffs (2-1-1) to breathe easy against San Francisco (2-1), especially after a grueling 3-2 win at Texas Tech on Friday.

"That was a tough start to the season," CU soccer coach Bill Hempen said. "Playing (No. 20 Florida and Denver last weekend) and then having a very, very physically and emotionally draining game against Texas Tech -- it's not easy to get to Lubbock and get back here (Saturday) and then be able to play the way we did (Sunday) -- I'm pretty happy."

Cousins is used to having her parents at her games. Marc and Sherry missed only one game last year and plan on attending all of them this season.

“It’s ridiculous,” said Alex Cousins, who hails from Fort Collins. “They drove to Texas Tech (with senior defender Michelle Wenino’s parents), and they just got back and had to drive to Boulder.”

The Cousins must have liked what they saw.

Senior Nikki Keller put the Buffs on the scoreboard first when she scored in the 22nd minute. Sophomore forward Nikki Marshall added a goal in the opening minutes of the second half for a 3-0 lead and senior forward Gianna DeSaverio topped off the scoring with a goal in the 55th minute.

The only blemish for CU came when San Francisco’s Kristina Hall scored off a corner kick with 23 minutes remaining in the match.

After being held to one goal in the first two games, the Buffs have opened the floodgates with seven goals in their last two games.

“Starting off with a goal calmed things down for us and got us going on the right note,” Keller said. “That was our problem in the first two games. We’re finally finishing shots we need to to win games.”

Foulk sidelined

Sophomore forward Amanda Foulk of Broomfield will begin activities again later this week after having knee surgery following the Aug. 17 exhibition match against Air Force.

Foulk’s knee had been bothering her before the season started and she tested it in the Air Force game. After the game, Foulk decided to have her meniscus scoped, Hempen said.