Colorado women’s soccer (1-1-0) split its first two games of the regular season, the first loss leaving the foul taste of lost opportunity in the Buffaloes’ mouths.
The regular season began last Thursday with a 3-0 win over the Marquette Golden Eagles (0-1-1). Sunday resulted in a heartbreaking 3-2 loss to the No. 8-ranked North Carolina Tar Heels (2-0-0). Yet, the Buffs are viewing the games differently than the outcomes.
“I'm already going to choose to look at the positive,” CU head coach Danny Sanchez said after the loss. “This performance (against UNC) versus Thursday (against Marquette) was like a different sport.”
The perspective makes sense looking at the caliber of the two teams. The Golden Eagles won a mere .368 percent of its games last season and have started 1-1. The Tar Heels, on the other hand, won .739 percent of its games and stormed into the quarterfinals of the NCAA national tournament. UNC is 2-0 to begin 2024.
Against Marquette, Sanchez noted the Buffs started slow. Captain and junior goalkeeper Jordi Nytes was forced into a tough save to begin the game, saving two more shots throughout the remainder. The black and gold also only outshot the Golden Eagles 14-10.
CU responded, netting two of its three goals in the second half. Freshman forward Jace Holley (10th minute) and redshirt freshman forward Sami Fisher (71st minute) scored the first goals of their collegiate careers, both in their collegiate debuts. Sophomore forward Hope Leyba scored in the 84th minute. Still, the sloppier play and defense were worrisome with UNC coming to town.
When met with the tough challenge of the eighth-best team in the nation, the Buffs played to the caliber. The match took place at Prentup Field, as it did on Thursday, in front of a packed crowd. While North Carolina’s attack was relentless, outshooting Colorado 23-11 (13-5 on target), the black and gold kept it close.
Through the first 52 minutes of play, only one goal was scored. UNC freshman midfielder Bella Gaetino was the culprit, silencing the Boulder faithful in the 28th minute.
In the 53rd minute, coming out of the break, fifth-year senior forward Shyra James knotted the game at one apiece from the top of the box. James squeaked the shot in the bottom right corner, pulling herself within one of CU’s all-time career goals record (Nikki Marshall, 42 goals).
Nytes task was tougher than Thursday night’s, but warranted with the Tar Heels' offensive strength. As she made seven second half saves, 10 in total, CU sophomore defender Angelina Moschetti knocked in a rebound to give the Buffs a one-goal lead in the 74th minute.
The lead held for 14 minutes, until the 88th.
UNC’s junior forward Kate Faasse scored her own putback, launching a Nytes save into the nylon to tie the game. With Colorado hoping for a draw, Faasse struck again in the 90th minute. Junior defender Tessa Dellarose sent a long pass into the box from the left side of the field, narrowly missing sophomore forward Olivia Thomas’ header attempt. Faasse read the overestimation, slightly tapping the shot into the bottom right corner before Nytes could react, stunning the Buffs and its crowd.
Before Faasse’s two goals, a Colorado upset over No. 8 North Carolina seemed certain. The collapse, was similar to the 2023 football team’s 29-point squander to wideout Elic Ayomanor and the Stanford Cardinal. Or, the men’s basketball team’s 20-point blown lead to Jaylon Tyson and the California Golden Bears.
Still, the positivity remained for the valiant effort.
“I think we'll get better,” Sanchez said. “Anyone that was watching, I think can see that. I thought there was some really good individual performances today. It was a tough day for both teams, but I was pleased with majority of the game of how we defended. The clock wouldn't go fast enough at the end, and I think we started to press a little bit towards the end of the game.”
Luckily for the Buffs, adversity and surprise is nothing new. As a team, it returned 19 players from last season’s roster who experienced a magical, roller-coaster season before losing in flukey fashion in the first round of the national tournament. Win or loss, Sanchez and Colorado walked away with one thing in mind.
“Like I told the team before the game. It's still 17 games after this,” Sanchez said, “and we're going to have some big games coming up starting next Thursday. We can feel sorry for ourselves for a little bit. I've been doing this for a long time and these things tend to even out. These things tend to kind of go the other way. At some point, we'll get a result late, maybe from nothing. We'll bounce back. We'll be fine.”
Colorado plays the Wyoming Cowgirls at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 22. It will be the team’s third of four home games to begin the season, broadcast on ESPN+.
Cover photo by Roberto Patrick Gerra/Sko Buffs Sports
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