Colorado soccer falls short in opening round of NCAA Tournament

The Colorado Buffaloes fought hard during their first-round battle in Greensboro, North Carolina against the South Alabama Jaguars in the NCAA Women’s Soccer Tournament. Unfortunately, after a tough battle, the Buffs’ chances to win a national championship ended following a 1-0 loss to the Jags.  

“First off, congratulations to South Alabama,” said Colorado head coach Danny Sanchez postgame. “I thought they played really well. We knew they were a good team. They had some mixed results in the spring because they were kind of breaking in a new team. Over the 90 minutes, I thought they played really well. We didn’t do enough, unfortunately, to get the result tonight.” 

By the seventh minute in the first half, the Jags earned the first corner kick of the game. With two good chances, they failed to score a goal. The Buffs controlled possession for the next 25 minutes and almost got on the board in the 14th minute, when senior defender Haileigh Adams ran long down the far sideline playing a cross kick into the box, but hit the goalpost, popping the ball back up into the air. Forward Tessa Barton then attempted a header into the goal off the rebound, however, that too went over the net. 

Neither one of the teams scored within the first half, and they entered the locker room at a stalemate. Coming out of halftime, the Buffs earned a corner kick in the 47th minute. Senior midfielder, Shanade Hopcroft, fed key defender Hannah Sharts for a header, which bounced to Barton who was unable to punch it in.

Sharts was then forced out of the game due to an injury in the 51st minute, and even though she was able to return to the field later, South Alabama was able to use her removal to their advantage.

“She is a leader in the back for us, but having said that I think at the beginning of the second half we were slow,” said Sanchez. “They were putting some pressure on us. We were glad to get her back in the match, but I felt the players that went in for her did fine. We just didn’t have enough quality when we won the ball.”

Seven minutes after Sharts’ injury, in the 58th minute, Tilly Wilkes snuck a free kick in towards the far post past Colorado goalkeeper Dani Hansen for the Jaguars’ one and only goal of the game. 

The Buffs put forth a valiant effort after falling behind, outshooting the Jaguars 10-3 in the final 30 minutes of the game. It came down to the closing seconds of the match, when Colorado drew a foul just on the outside of the penalty box. With Hopcroft in charge of taking the free kick, she kicked it over the wall past Jaguar goalkeeper Allison Luckhardt, but the shot went over the crossbar and popped over the net.

Although Colorado led in shots throughout the game, 14-9, the ball just couldn’t find its way into the net. South Alabama (14-8-1) finished off Colorado (9-6-2) in the low-scoring contest, running the Buffaloes out of the tournament. 

“We weren’t able to get into the spaces. I think we struggled a lot moving to get the ball forward,” said Colorado midfielder Kayleigh Webb. “I think we played fine in the back possessing the ball, but once it hit the attacking third it was hard for us to get through the lines. If we did, we could have been able to get the goal, but we didn’t. It is how it ends up. That is why you always have a next year.”