The Colorado Buffaloes women’s soccer team woke up Wednesday morning to some delightful news: they have been moved into the national rankings, coming in at No. 18 in the weekly United Soccer Coaches’ poll.
Head coach Danny Sanchez and the Buffs received a four-spot bump from the last poll in which they were ranked No. 22.
The black and gold are 4-1 through their first five games, but arguably should be undefeated as they are almost certainly rueing their late-game collapse to the then-No. 8 North Carolina Tar Heels. The Buffaloes led that game 2-1 with less than five minutes remaining before giving up two goals in quick succession. They did not just blow the win versus the now No. 2-ranked Tar Heels, but also had it slip away into a loss.
Colorado has some big wins to its name, though, a 4-3 victory over North Texas in the opener told the college soccer world that its high-scoring games were not a fluke of the 2023 season. Similarly, a 5-1 dominant victory over Wyoming that saw Shyra James break the all-time scoring record at the school was another instance of pure dominance that has been all too predictable from the fifth-year forward.
CU co-captain Jordan Nytes has notched three consecutive shutouts – Wyoming only scored a goal after Nytes was subbed out of the game – and remains one of the top goalkeepers in the entire nation. The junior keeper from Aurora continues to be one of the primary reasons the Buffs are where they are, given that sloppy play and failure to capitalize on offensive opportunities have plagued Colorado and made some of its wins much tougher than they needed to be. She took home Big 12 co-goalkeeper of the week for her performances.
Colorado plays the Denver Pioneers at home on Thursday at 7 p.m. MT (ESPN+) following the weather cancellation of its North Carolina State game this past weekend. The Wolfpack, ranked No. 25 at the time, fell out of the top 25.
Cover photo by Remi Krupinski/Sko Buffs Sports
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