But the Buffs don`t act like a championship team outside the Boulder city limits.

CU, which opened conference play 4-0 with all of the victories coming at Prentup Field, dropped to 7-7 overall and 4-2 in the Big 12 with a 1-0 overtime loss to Missouri here on Friday night.

"Missouri is very difficult to play at home, especially on a Friday night," said CU coach Bill Hempen. "This is the second year in a row that we had to do that. We certainly faced off better tonight than a year ago, but they played hard; sometimes a little too hard, but if the referee doesn`t think that, then play on, I`m all for (physical play)."

The Tigers (7-4-3, 2-0-2) scored the game-winner just 36 seconds into overtime when Michelle Collins dished the ball to Alysha Bonnick, who blasted the game`s only goal into the back of the net.

"We played harder tonight from start to finish than we have in a long time and they had to because Missouri forced us to," Hempen said. "We played as well as we could under the circumstances. From the physical standpoint, our young players grew up tonight and if I thought that they ever weren`t ready for this sort of play, they just got ready. Sometimes that`s the best way to do it. When you have injuries, you have players that are forced into the spotlight and they either do it or they don`t (rise to the occasion). They did it tonight."

In the 35th minute of the game, it was freshman Shaye Marshall who nearly got the Buffs on the board. Marshall took a pass from her sister, CU star Nikki Marshall, through a pair of Tiger defenders. Shaye Marshall took one touch and fired a hard shot towards the goalkeeper, but the shot was saved to preserve the scoreless tie.

The Tigers would respond with their own scoring opportunity three minutes later on a Kari Adam shot, but Buffs goalkeeper Kara Linder quickly reacted and punched the ball out of bounds, forcing a Missouri corner kick which they could not convert on. The Tigers outshot Colorado 11-4 in the first half. Missouri kept up the offensive pressure in the second half and Bonnick found herself open in front of the goal in the 56th minute of the match. Bonnick fired a hard shot to Linder`s left side and the senior goalkeeper was able to scoop the ball up and keep the Tigers out of the net.

"There was a lot going on when they scored the goal and evidently it was all fair play," Hempen said. "Missouri scored and we didn`t."

The Tigers had nine shots on goal while CU only put two shots on goal.

The Buffs, who lost at Baylor last Sunday in their first conference game, will travel to Lawrence to face Kansas at noon on Sunday.