Denver ? A female kicker says she was raped by a Colorado teammate four years ago but was too frightened to tell police, another damaging accusation against a reeling program.

Katie Hnida makes the allegation in the upcoming issue of Sports Illustrated, saying she wanted to come forward because of other problems recently revealed at the school.

She issued a statement Tuesday through the University of New Mexico, where she is a student, to say she was “healing” from “horrors endured” while on the Colorado football team. The statement does not mention rape, and she says she does not plan to press charges.

Hnida’s statement, however, was intended to confirm the magazine account, said New Mexico athletic spokesman Greg Remington.

Colorado president Betsy Hoffman urged Hnida to report the alleged assault to police.

The university announced Tuesday it wouldl hire a special administrator to oversee its athletic department. School officials said they decided to add the position after learning of Hnida’s allegations.

Her accusation came after three weeks of stunning allegations involving the Colorado football program. Three women have sued the school in federal court, saying they were raped by players or recruits at or after an off-campus party in December 2001.

No assault charges were filed, but Boulder County District Attorney Mary Keenan said in a deposition for one of the lawsuits that she believed the football program used alcohol and sex to entice recruits.

The governor had urged the university to take action and an independent panel has been chosen to put together a report by April 30 on recruiting practices. University officials have denied Keenan’s allegations.

Hnida, 22, left Colorado after the 1999 season, later enrolling at New Mexico. Last August, she said she was a target of sexual harassment when she was at Colorado but did not mention rape.

She told Sports Illustrated, however, that she was assaulted in the summer of 2000 at a teammate’s home.

“He starts to kiss me,” she said. “I told him, ‘That’s not OK.’ Next thing I know he’s on top of me. I told him, ‘No!’ … I tried to push him off me, but he outweighed me by 100 pounds.”

She said she was able to escape after the telephone rang. Asked why she didn’t tell police, she said she was afraid of the player and didn’t want a “media mess.”

Hnida said Tuesday she had been in contact with Colorado authorities, but did not expect to file charges “at this time.” She said, “I just want to see changes made” at the school.

Football coach Gary Barnett, who last fall called Hnida “a distraction to our team,” told the magazine he never heard she had been sexually assaulted. He did not return calls seeking comment.

“We are shocked and deeply disturbed about an allegation of sexual assault,” Colorado officials said. “We strongly encourage Ms. Hnida to contact police officials to investigate her sexual assault allegations.”

Keenan, the Boulder prosecutor, did not return a call seeking comment.

Hnida did not try out for the Buffaloes in 2000 after Barnett said he told her she would have to beat out other kickers for the job. Last fall, Hnida said she didn’t return for several reasons, including “an incident during that summer.”

Hnida later became the first woman to compete in a Division I-A football game when she attempted an extra point for New Mexico in the 2002 Las Vegas Bowl. She was also the first woman to score in a Division One game, booting a pair of extra points in a victory last season.