But the Buffs halted a five-game road losing streak on Sunday with a 1-0 victory at the Jayhawk Soccer Complex.

Colorado freshman Erin Bricker gave the Buffs the win with her first career goal in the 16th minute and CU held on for the win, the team's first true road victory of the season.

The Buffs won despite being outshot 20-7 overall and 14-2 in the second half.

"We had enough of the ball in the game, but we just didn't finish our plays with shots," CU coach Bill Hempen said. "If we want to be who we say we want to be, we have to win. The grass is not always green and the sun is not always out and sometimes you just have to find a way to get through the game and we did that today."

Colorado remained atop the Big 12 standings in improving to 8-7 overall and 5-2 in conference action. KU fell to 9-5-1, 1-4.

The Buffs hit the road initially for Friday's game in Missouri, where they lost 1-0. Colorado had been outscored 11-2 during its five-game road losing streak.

But Bricker, who leads CU in assists with three, carried the ball through the KU defense and knocked her shot in the back of the net.

"What a great way for Erin to get her first collegiate goal," Hempen said. "We were away from home in a truly meaningful game that helps your team. She beat the defender and it was as quiet of a goal as she is a person. It wasn't a rocket. She saw where to put it and rolled it in. It was a great goal for her to start her career in scoring."

Colorado's defense stood strong in the second half and withstood KU's pressure.

"From about 25 minutes left in the game on, I'll be honest, they were in our end a lot," Hempen said. "Theyhit the crossbar twice and fired a number of shots, but we persevered. The first thing the team said to me after the game was, 'We won ugly!`

"Like I`ve said before, that`s going to happen. People aren`t going to look at the box scores, they`re going to look at our record and just want to know who we beat. We won on the road today against what I think is a very good Kansas team, and we`ll take the 1-0 win."

Colorado has a rare 12-day break before returning to the pitch on Oct. 23 when the Buffs face Texas A&M at 6 p.m. in College Station. CU will then travel to Austin and face Texas two days later.

Ritz third at worlds

Former CU standout Dathan Ritzenhein ran the second fastest U.S. time in to finish third at the IAAF World Half Marathon Championships on Sunday in Birmingham, United Kingdom.

Ritzenhein`s time of 1:00.00 helped lead Team USA to a fourth-place finish.

Boulder`s James Carney placed 38th with a time of 1:04.00.

Zersenay Tadese of Eritrea won the men`s race with a time of 59:35.