Busting out of goal scoring slumps in soccer can be an arduous enough task sometimes. Trying to do so with the No. 1 team in the country coming to town seems just plain daunting.

The Colorado Buffaloes, however, aren't ones to shy away from elite competition in the nonconference portion of their season, slump or no slump. It's why they're more excited about the opportunity that lies before them than they are intimidated or left dwelling on their recent scoring woes.

The Buffs (2-1-3) open their Colorado Soccer Classic by hosting top-ranked Stanford (6-0-0) at 4 p.m. Friday at Prentup Field having not scored a goal in the last three games. CU hosts Drake at 1 p.m. Sunday, while Denver plays Drake at 2 p.m. Friday and Stanford at 11 a.m. Sunday.

"It would be awesome (to get a win), especially against Stanford, because we'd like to prove that we're as good as some of these teams we play," forward Nikki Marshall said. "We're not showing it right now, but I really do think Colorado has the potential to be a top-10 program this year. So it would be awesome to break out against Stanford."

The Buffs have registered scoreless ties against No. 25 BYU and New Mexico around a 4-0 loss to No. 7 Virginia over the past 12 days.

Colorado coach Bill Hempen said the unlucky timing of his team's drought doesn't affect how he looks at his non-league scheduling, which he generally uses to challenge the squad in preparation for Big 12 Conference play.

The season has been an up-and-down one so far for the Buffs. They've had games against smaller opponents like Fairfield in which they had ample scoring chances, only to struggle to put the ball away. They've also had outings like a win over Utah in which they had relatively few chances but scored four goals.

"We've pretty much proven that it doesn't matter who the opponent is," Hempen said. "We could be eating high on the hog or we could be in an incredible drought."

Not that the scoring problems haven't taken their toll on the Buffs' psyche.

"A win would definitely help our morale," goalkeeper Kirstin Radlinski said. "Some goals would help our morale."

Stanford has four victories over ranked opponents already this season, including a 2-1 decision over Virginia. But Hempen said the Buffs have focused more on their own game plan this week than the opponent itself.

He's also tried not to overemphasize the need to score. Marshall, in fact, will start in the defense against Stanford, partly to match her with Stanford's speed up front and partly to take some pressure off of her as CU's leading scorer.

"I think she's putting herself under so much pressure to be our goal scorer that she's not even scoring," Hempen said.

Hempen indicated that there's a fine line to walk as a coach when trying to end a scoring drought.

"You try not to emphasize it as much in training because they're already thinking about it, and you don't want to add more pressure," he said.

"I can't complain about the kids' effort. It's keeping that effort with little reward scoring-wise that's going to be the most difficult thing. But that shouldn't be an issue certainly this weekend."

Linksters taking on alumni

Six members of the CU men's golf team will take on six team alumni this afternoon in the annual Fowler Cup at Boulder Country Club.

Ben Portie, Scott Petersen, Barry Jennings, Derek O'Neill, Kevin Bolles and John Hamer comprise the alumni squad.

Each player will play two nine-hole match play matches, with 12 points total up for grabs.

Netters to open fall slate

The CU tennis team opens the fall portion of its schedule with the University of New Mexico Invitational Friday to Sunday.

There are no team scores kept in the fall. All of the Buffs, rather, will play singles or doubles in one of three different individual draws.

The Buffs return everyone except for graduated senior Martina Sedivec, though coach Nicole Kenneally said last year's No. 1 singles player, Monica Milewski, will play only doubles this weekend.