The University of Colorado women’s soccer team suffered its first loss in over a month. Traveling to the West Coast, the No. 22 ranked Colorado took on No. 3 Stanford in a Friday night thriller. The Buffs suffered their first loss in ten games, falling 2-0 to the Cardinal.
CU has been on an incredible run in recent weeks, winning 10 consecutive matches and going undefeated in conference play up until this point. The Buffs haven’t lost a game since Sept. 1, when they fell to Michigan State 2-1, in overtime.
Until tonight, Colorado sat atop the Pac-12 standings after an undefeated start to the conference season. The Buffs are now 12-4 overall and 6-1 in conference play.
Stanford had Colorado on the ropes throughout the entirety of the match. The Cardinal dominated on offense during the first half, firing shot after shot on freshman goalie Jalen Tompkins.
The Buffs managed the initial shot on goal with a shot from senior forward Danica Evans. Despite the effort, Colorado endured seven straight shots from Stanford. Tompkins racked up four saves within the first half of play.
The Cardinal nearly took the lead 27 minutes into the game. To the Buffs’ relief, a shot from the Cardinal hit the post of the goal and the game remained scoreless.
Stanford controlled the half from early on. CU only managed three shots, one of which was saved by the Cardinal goal keeper. Tompkins went four-for-four with saves keeping the Buffs in the game, despite the lack of offense.
Stanford got the upper hand three minutes into the second half. A header helped to lift the Cardinal 1-0 over Colorado, after a half full of pressure on the CU goalie. From there, the Buffs began to slide down a slippery slope. A second goal in the 59th minute of play boosted Stanford to a 2-0 lead. A top right corner shot after a cross field assist was no match for Tompkins and the Buffs.
Standout star, freshman midfielder Taylor Kornieck did her best to try and get some offense going for the Buffs. Kornieck’s first shot on goal of the night, in the 68th minute of play, was not enough to put CU on the board. She remains tied for 22nd in the country in goals scored with 10.
Despite the Buffs’ best effort, it proved to be too difficult a challenge to take down the 17th best scoring offense in the country. Colorado put up a fight in the first half, but was unable to keep an up tempo offense moving. The Cardinal would not score again in the match. It was still enough to hand CU its first conference loss of the season, 2-0.
Tompkins concluded her night with seven saves and two goals allowed. The Buffs faced a total of 18 shots and fired off only seven of their own.
Colorado will have another tough matchup this Sunday as they travel to Berkeley to take on the No. 10 Cal Bears at 2 p.m. (MST).
Contact CU Independent Assistant Sports Editor Olivia Butrymovich at olbu3713.@colorado.edu.
