Thanks in part to Reagan Kotschau’s double-overtime winner, the Colorado women’s soccer team will live to see another round in the NCAA Tournament.
Knotted with 14-seed Utah Valley in the sixth minute of the second overtime period, Kotschau headed home her sixth and most important goal of the season, giving the third-seeded Buffs a first-round win, 2-1.
The junior midfielder from Thornton and Broomfield High School was simply glad to end things after nearly 106 minutes of Friday night soccer at Prentup Field.
“I’m kind of relieved that it’s over because we were all so dead, but it feels really good that we grinded out that win,” said Kotschau, whose goal was assisted by fellow midfielder and Boulder native Ava Priest.
Now the winningest team in program history dating back to 1996, Colorado (16-3-3) will next host the winner of Saturday’s match between No. 6 Dayton and Xavier on Thursday. Another win would give head coach Danny Sanchez’s Buffs their first trip to the NCAA Tournament third round since 2013.
Sanchez was pleased to see Colorado’s onslaught of overtime pressure finally result in a goal.
“It was just good composure from Ava to whip a ball in, and Reagan, we saw it earlier this year, she’s just so good in the air,” Sanchez said. “Just a really classy finish from Reagan.”
In the first half, Utah Valley struck early as Bailey Peterson scored a fifth-minute goal, assisted by Ruby Hladek.
With Colorado trailing 1-0, chaos broke out in the 29th minute when a controversial call cost forward Hope Leyba a potential game-tying goal. In front of Utah Valley’s net, a shot ricocheted off Leyba’s face and into the goal, but the play was instead determined to be a hand ball by the officiating crew. Colorado was issued a team yellow card for arguing the call.
The Buffs weren’t down for much longer, however, as freshman Vivi Zacarias tied things up in the 39th minute with the second goal of her young career, giving the Buffs some needed momentum ahead of the halftime break. Zacarias, a midfielder from California, last scored in Colorado’s win over Denver on Sept. 11.
“I’m so glad that she scored that goal,” Kotschau said. “She really deserves it. Both her goals were amazing this year. It’s just so great, especially because she’s a freshman and it was a big goal.”
Although it didn’t result in any scores, Colorado’s offense found its rhythm in the second half with 15 shots and seven corner kicks. In overtime, the Buffs fired off six shots to Utah Valley’s four.
“We really just wanted that goal,” Kotschau said. “We were all tired, and we also didn’t want to go into PKs. We’d rather get it over with in overtime. I think it was just that extra pressure; I guess that just really gave us that drive.”
Defensively, Colorado held Utah Valley standout Faith Webber, who entered Friday as the nation’s leader in goals (22), scoreless on eight shots. CU goalkeeper Jordan Nytes finished the night with six saves.
The first-round NCAA Tournament matchup drew a season-high 2,171 fans to Prentup, which will again provide the Buffs an advantage in next week’s second round.
“Maybe the most special atmosphere since I’ve been here,” Sanchez said. “I want to give a shoutout to everyone that helped put this together tonight. Special nights like this, you have to enjoy them.”