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CU Olympic Sports
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November 23rd
… Citius, Altius, Fortius …
No. 12 CU’s season ends with 2-1 Sweet Sixteen loss to No. 9 Michigan State
From CUBuffs.com … The No. 12-ranked Colorado soccer team had its run in the NCAA Tournament come to a halt with a 2-1 loss to No. 9-ranked Michigan State at DeMartin Field on Sunday.
Colorado (17-4-3) finished the season with the most wins, goals (59), assists (66) and points (184) in program history. CU recorded two NCAA Tournament wins and advanced to the Sweet 16 for just the third time in 15 NCAA Tournament appearances.
In a rematch from the season-opener, it was Michigan State (15-3-6) that struck first in the opening minute and forced the Buffs to play from behind for a large portion of the first half. Bella Najera scored both goals for the Spartans, the winner coming on a penalty, to advance to their first Elite Eight in program history.
“It was a great match, everything you expected out of a Sweet 16,” head coach Danny Sanchez expressed after the loss. “Like I told the team afterwards, I’m really proud of how they responded after giving up that early goal. We didn’t hang our heads. I thought we changed things up. We started playing well, and it was a deserved goal to get to 1-1 at halftime. The second half was a match that could have gone either way. Unfortunately, it didn’t fall for us today, but that doesn’t take away from the five great seniors that put us in this position.”
Faith Leyba scored the lone goal for the Buffs, notching her third goal in her last four matches. Senior goalkeeper Jordan Nytes, in what proved to be her final match as a Buff, made five saves in the opening half and finished the day with seven total stops.
“Jordi is the best keeper in the country, and she made a couple of saves that she needed to make,” Sanchez continued. “I think their movement in the midfield was really good. I thought for the most part, we did an ok job with it. Obviously, disappointed to lose on a penalty like that, but that’s soccer.”
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November 18th
… Citius, Altius, Fortius …
No. 3 Seed Buffs defeat Xavier 4-1 to advance to the Sweet Sixteen for the third time in school history
From CUBuffs.com … No. 12 Colorado found the back of the net four times on Thursday to advance to its third Sweet 16 in program history with a 4-1 defeat of No. 22 Xavier at DeMartin Stadium.
The trip to the Sweet 16 is the first for the Buffs since 2013.
“I’m so excited for this group,” head coach Danny Sanchez expressed after the win. “You set goals in July and early August, when you’re up in the mountains and doing team bonding, and we couldn’t be more proud of the group tonight for their effort and performance.”
Senior goalkeeper Jordan Nytes recorded a CU tournament record 12 saves, allowing the one goal when the game was already in hand. Faith Leyba and Reagan Kotschau proved the Buffs’ early offense, while Hope Leyba and Riley MacDonald each scored in the final 10 minutes of the contest.
“I think something I’ve kind of prided myself on for a while is just being able to perform under pressure,” Nytes said of her 12-save performance. “Being a captain on the team, it’s kind of my job to keep everybody else in front of me composed. I can’t take any of the credit for the saves without the four people in front of me and the rest of the team.
“The team just bought in today and played super awesome,” Nytes continued. “I’m glad I performed well and was able to come up big for my team. That’s all that matters. I’m just proud of everybody.”
Colorado (17-3-3) has now held the No. 2 offense in the NCAA to one goal apiece in back-to-back weeks and has outscored its opponents 6-2 in the first two rounds.
“They [Xavier] are fantastic going forward,” Sanchez commented. “I mean, 26, Samantha [Erbach], you can see why she’s leading the country in scoring, looking at the stats, eight shots, three on goal. But really, all of that was outside the box, and Jordi could deal with it. I was really pleased with her and how we shut down No. 6 [Elin Hansson] as well.
“For them, our game plan was to try and neutralize those players,” Sanchez continued. “It’s not dissimilar to Utah Valley last week. When you have All-American attackers, you have to have All-American defenders, and I feel we do, and you have to have an All-American goalkeeper, which we do.”
Kotschau now has two goals in the tournament, both as game-winners. F. Leyba and Vivi Zacarias each have a goal and an assist in the two NCAA Tournament matches.
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November 15th
… Citius, Altius, Fortius …
No. 3 Seed Buffs outlast Utah Valley, 2-1, in double-overtime to advance in NCAA tournament
From CUBuffs.com … Reagan Kotschau flew through the air like Supergirl Friday night at Prentup Field, extending Colorado’s season and punching the team’s ticket to the second round of the NCAA Tournament all in one swoop. Her diving header in double overtime completed Colorado’s comeback, defeating Utah Valley in dramatic fashion, 2-1.
The double-overtime win is the team’s first in extra time in its 15 NCAA Tournament appearances. It was also CU’s 16th win of the season, marking the most in a season in program history.
“I feel great,” Kotschau said after her winner. “I’m kind of relieved that it’s over, because we’re all so dead [at that point of the night]. It just feels really good that we grinded out that win.”
Utah Valley (14-5-3) got on the board early with a goal from Bailey Peterson. Leah Wolf was solid all night for the Wolverines, making four saves.
Freshman Vivi Zacarias got Colorado back on track with her second goal of the season. Kotschau’s game-winner was her sixth goal of the year. She now has five game-winners this season.
Jordan Nytes recorded six saves over 105 minutes, recording her 41st career win as a Buff. Ava Priest sent in the ball on Kotschau’s game-winner for her sixth assist of the season.
“What a match,” head coach Danny Sanchez expressed. “Maybe the most special atmosphere since I’ve been here. I want to give a shoutout to everyone who helped put this together tonight. You have to enjoy special nights like this. I want to give a lot of credit to Utah Valley. They came out and played great soccer and really put us under pressure the whole match.”
Colorado advances in the bracket for the second consecutive year and is now 12-14-1 all-time in the NCAA Tournament.
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November 13th
… Citius, Altius, Fortius …
No. 22 CU volleyball upsets No. 16 TCU in five sets
… Note … Buffs taking on No. 8 Arizona State, Saturday, 1:00 p.m., MT, ESPN+ …
From CUBuffs.com … The 22nd-ranked Colorado volleyball team (21-5, 11-3 Big 12) defeated No. 16 TCU (18-8, 8-6 Big 12) in five sets (25-21, 19-25, 19-25, 29-27, 19-17) at CU Events Center on Thursday, Nov. 13.
The Buffs notched their fourth-ranked win of the season on a comeback thriller match against the Horned Frogs. CU went down 2-1 but fought back in the last two sets – taking them both to extras. The match saw 42 tie scores and 18 lead changes overall. Senior setter Rian Finley reached 1,000 career assists, becoming the 15th Buff to do so.
“This is the tale of two matches,” head coach Jesse Mahoney said. “We came out really efficient in the first set, and then in sets two and three, TCU blocked us a ton. We had a ton of attacking errors. Credit to our players —set four and set five — really righted the ship. We passed well the entire match, and we just kept chipping away. We talked in timeouts about, ‘hey, keep doing the right things, and you’ll get rewarded,’ and that’s what happened. That was a great win for us. That’s a really good team and [this win] puts us in a good position.”
Colorado had out-assisted (60-50), out-aced (10-4) and out-dug (60-54) TCU. CU held TCU to .180 or lower in the first, fourth and fifth sets.
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