The Colorado women’s soccer team put together one of its best all-around performances this year on the biggest stage of the season.
The biggest stage so far, at any rate. Thanks to that performance, the Buffaloes are moving onward and upward.
CU survived early pressure from Xavier to dominate the rest of the way, recording a 4-1 victory in an NCAA Tournament second-round match on Thursday in East Lansing, Michigan. The Buffs earned the third Sweet 16 trip in program history and the second in 14 seasons under head coach Danny Sanchez, but it’s the first time CU has advanced this far since Sanchez’s second season in Boulder in 2013.
The 12th-ranked, third-seeded Buffs will stay in East Lansing to play the winner of Thursday night’s second-round game between the second-seeded Michigan State Spartans and Wake Forest on Sunday (11 a.m. MT, ESPN+).
Xavier pressed the issue offensively during the first 15 minutes, but consecutive header goals by CU’s Faith Leyba and Reagan Kotschau reversed the complexion of the match and sent the Buffs (17-3-3) on their way to the Sweet 16.
“You set goals in July and early August when you’re up in the mountains and you’re doing team bonding, and couldn’t be more proud of the group for their effort and performance,” Sanchez said. “I thought we were just a little bit tentative (early) for whatever reason. We weren’t giving them a ton of chances. They had a couple half-chances. But we were defending too deep.
“But really, Faith getting the goal in the corner and obviously the second goal really helped settle us. Felt good about it, and we defended well.”
Defender Jordan Whiteaker delivered both corner kicks that ended with CU’s first two goals, with Leyba opening the scoring with her third goal of the season. Leyba almost recorded the second goal, but after her header bounced off the crossbar, Kotschau cleaned up the rebound to give CU a 2-0 lead that held until the latter stages of the match.
A 45-yard bomb from Hope Leyba gave the Buffs a 3-0 lead with a little less than 4 minutes remaining and extended her team-record goal total to 22. Although a tally by Xavier ruined a possible shutout for what otherwise was a standout performance by CU goalie Jordan Nytes, a couple of the Buffs’ reserves were able to get in on the scoring in the final seconds, with Riley MacDonald capping the scoring off an assist from Josie Master.
Nytes recorded 12 saves, the most by any CU goalie in the Buffs’ 28 all-time NCAA Tournament games. Whiteaker became just the third CU player to record two assists in an NCAA Tournament game, and the first since 2007.
CU’s four goals marked the second-most for the program in a tournament game, trailing only the six scored in a 2019 first-round win against Northern Colorado. The Buffs’ five assists also was the second-most in the team’s tournament history, trailing the six recorded in that same 2019 game against Northern Colorado.
“We came into the game with a really good game plan,” Nytes said. “We knew they had top goal-scorers in the country, so that’s obviously something we look at. With Faith and Greer (Maguire) in front of me as center backs, it’s never really a problem. We know what to do. We know to buy into the game plan. Everybody’s effort in the defense was just super incredible.”
(3) CU Buffs soccer 4, (6) Xavier 1
Xavier 0 1 — 1
Colorado 2 2 — 4
Goals — Colorado: F. Leyba (Whiteaker), 18th minute; Kotschau (F. Leyba, Whiteaker), 32nd minute; H. Leyba (Zacarias), 87th minute; MacDonald (Master), 89th minute. Xavier: Pennekamp (Flick), 89th minute.
Goalies (Min.-goals against-saves) — Xavier: Galley (90-4-3). Colorado: Nytes (90-1-12).
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