When Katie Griffin came to Colorado for her recruiting visit, CU soccer coach Bill Hempen had a secret recruiting tool. He used it when he drove Griffin and her family to the airport.

They stopped at the Hempen household to meet the coach's family. That's when his cutie-pie 21/2-year-old daughter sealed the deal.

"Are you going to play for my daddy?" Emma Hempen asked, after her father whispered the line in her ear.

Who's going to say no to that? Griffin didn't.

She kept her word to Emma and is now in the final stretches of her career at CU. Griffin began that career as a hot-shot freshman and is ending it as a gritty leader. She has been at CU for every history-making moment in the program — its first conference title, its first NCAA Tournament, its first tourney win and its first trip to the Sweet 16. And after all that she'll be trying to continue to make history Friday when she leads her team in a sweet 16 game against Notre Dame.

"I love my teammates and it has been great to move for-

ward a step each year," said Griffin, from Scottsdale, Ariz. "This is my fourth year and I enjoy the freshman looking up to me."

By the time Griffin came back to Boulder after her visit with Emma to start playing at CU, she had already been through five surgeries. They were caused by injuries that often kept her from playing in high school and club soccer. It also caused schools to back off their recruitment.

Hempen didn't back off. He coached Duke to a national championship game appearance before coming to CU but hadn't built the Buffs into that type of program. He won only three games in his first season at CU when Griffin committed as a junior in high school. She decided to trust the coach and she started at CU the season after the Buffs won their first-ever Big 12 tournament game.

"I knew Bill had a good reputation of winning," Griffin said. "I knew he would do good things."

Hempen's decision to keep recruiting Griffin and her decision to come to CU were quickly rewarded. The Buffs won the Big 12 and made the NCAA Tournament for the first time in Griffin's freshman year. She scored 10 goals and won Big 12 newcomer of the year.

She continued to rack up goals at CU and scored 27 in her first three seasons. She set the single-season school record of 12 last season, although Nikki Marshall passed that this season, with 17 so far.

Griffin's stats made national team coaches take notice. She was selected to play for the U-21 national team this summer and scored a goal against Denmark. She was the first player in CU history to play for the U.S.

Despite all she accomplished, Griffin was never the big star at CU. Fran Munnelly had been named conference player of the year and All-American in her career. Munnelly finished her CU career last season. That meant this year, for the first time, Griffin was going to be the Buffs' offensive star.

That was until she suffered a serious ankle injury early in the season. She hadn't been hurt since her injury-riddled high school career. The injury caused her to miss some games. She even thought she may have to miss the entire season.

"This is my last season and I wanted to play. Like Bill says, I just keep taking my vitamin I," she said. "That's ibuprofen."

There hasn't been a point this season when she has been 100 percent healthy. That hasn't stopped her from playing 18 of the team's 23 games. She even moved to midfield to help bring her team out of a midseason funk, and then bring an NCAA Tournament host bid to Boulder.

She still wasn't really the star of the team, though. That distinction went to Marshall, who scored 16 goals to lead the Big 12. Griffin had a new role. She was one of three seniors on a team with 13 freshmen, and she has been like a big sister to a lot of them.

"I was just glad we could win this for the seniors, like Katie," Marshall said after CU beat Denver in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. She then threw her arms around Griffin's neck and hugged her tight.

Marshall was nice to try and win for Griffin, but Griffin did plenty herself to help the Buffs win two NCAA games last week. She only scored two goals during the season, but she scored three goals in those two wins. Without Griffin, the Buffs season may be over.

"Katie is pretty confident. They watch her and see how to do things," Hempen said. "They want to do that for the program."

Even when this season is over she may still have a soccer career. She could be called back to the national team. She also has aspirations of staying in sports as a broadcaster. In either post-Buff path she can call on the experience she gained in one of the best female athletic careers at CU.

And it all started with a little girl's question.