A lot rode on the University of Colorado soccer team’s regular-season finale against Utah Friday at wind-swept Prentup Field, such as a three-game unbeaten streak, hopes of an NCAA Tournament berth and its first winning record in Pac-12 play.
But little mattered at kickoff besides the Buffs’ six seniors.
Colorado honored Brooke Rice, Bianca Jones, Tori Cooper, Storie Ledger, Carly Bolyard and Darcy Jerman with an emotional pregame ceremony, and then sent their leaders off in style with a 2-0 victory over the Utes.
“They bought into what we asked of them,” Buffs head coach Danny Sanchez said of the seniors. “It’s a great group, I’m really proud of them and I’m happy for them.”
Emotions may have gotten the better of Colorado early on. Utah, ravaged by injuries all season, controlled the game from the start. The Utes played a slow, possession-based game. At first, they didn’t attack so much as play keep-away from the Buffs.
Then the Utes started to apply pressure. They earned a corner kick in the fourth minute and forced Colorado’s junior keeper Kate Scheele to make an early save. Cooper stopped another Utah attack with a booming clear in the 16th minute.
The Buffs finally countered Utah’s attack in the 27th minute. The Utes’ defense abandoned Colorado sophomore forward Brie Hooks on a run to the left of Utah keeper Lindsey Luke — and, well, if you leave Brie Hooks that wide open, you’ve already lost. Junior forward Maddie Krauser found Hooks with a cross, and Hooks buried it past Luke’s reach for her team-leading eighth goal of the season.
Colorado needed only 10 minutes to add to their lead. Junior forward Emily Paxton had only just subbed in for Bolyard when she sent a cross from junior midfielder Kahlia Hogg straight at Luke — it was an easy save, but the rebound bounced just out of Luke’s reach and Jerman drove it home with her left foot for her fifth goal of the season.
“I was just kinda drifting into the box and Emily had a really great shot and the goalie fumbled it and I just hit it as hard as I could with the left foot,” Jerman said. “It feels great.”
Thirty-seven minutes in, the Buffs had all the goals they would need. If anything, though, Colorado was more aggressive after it built its lead. Freshman forward Brittney Stark was called offsides on a great run in the 50th minute. Krauser played like she was possessed — she was the fastest player on the field, her runs were frenetic and she forced Luke to save two screamers in the 66th and 67th minutes.
The Buffs threatened for much of the second half. Krauser’s energy and the precision of Hooks and Jerman, who almost netted a header in the 71st minute, helped take the pressure off of Scheele. The win was her 10th shutout of the season, and probably her easiest: She faced only five shots, and she had to make just one difficult save — a beautiful, leaping one-hander in the 72nd minute.
Utah took two corner kicks in the final 10 minutes, but could make nothing of them. The second, in the 90th minute, led to the game’s only yellow card. The Utes brought Luke forward into the box out of desperation, and the keeper elbowed Krauser in midair — but, with 30 seconds left, her booking was irrelevant.
The win bumps Colorado’s record to 13-6-1 and puts them in good shape for the NCAA Tournament. The Buffs made it in last year with a worse record, and they upset Denver and Brigham Young on their way to the Sweet 16. Colorado will learn its postseason fate on Monday.
“Well, you never know till you’re there,” Sanchez said of the team’s selection chances. “But a 13-6-1 record, third or no lower than fourth in the strongest RPI conference in the nation, it went about as well as we could have hoped.”
Jerman wants more than to just get in.
“We’re hoping, possibly, to get home-field,” she said.
She and her fellow seniors aren’t done with Prentup just yet.
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Tommy Wood at Thomas.C.Wood@colorado.edu.
