The University of Texas at Dallas is very adept at frustrating opponents with its possession style of play. And, on Saturday, Colorado College was its first victim of 2009.

The visiting Comets struck for a pair of goals in the second half of their season opener, blanking host CC by a 2-0 count at Stewart Field.

UTD's Cory Roth snapped a scoreless deadlock in the 70th minute of play, heading a rebound past Tigers keeper Brian Engle just moments after Engle had made a spectacular save on a point-blank shot by Brian Shiba. The Comets got an insurance tally by Shiba a little more than 10 minutes later after each team lost a player to a red card during a minor fracas at the other end of the field.

“Today was a valuable lesson in how to play correctly – something we hate to play against and can't do ourselves,” said CC head coach Horst Richardson. “But, statistically, we were right there. We had eight corner kicks to their two. We were attacking. We were trying.”

Texas Dallas finished with a 16-15 edge in overall shots, although the Tigers managed only three on goal while dropping to 1-1 for the season. Engle finished with four saves in a losing cause. UTD's Jake Brandon made three stops in recording the shutout.