CU Hopes to Turn Late April Soccer into May Madness
By Issac Hartman
The University of Colorado women’s soccer team will travel to Greensboro, North Carolina for a first-round matchup against the South Alabama Jaguars on April 27 for the NCAA tournament after qualifying last week following an impressive regular season performance.
This trip marks CU’s 12th appearance in the tournament and the sixth time under head coach Danny Sanchez’s watch since he took over the reins in 2012. Colorado, which was an at-large selection after 29 automatic bids were given out, is making their fourth trip in the last five years. Normally the tournament hosts 64 squads, but because of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, the rules were changed, and the teams were cut down to 48 for this year. Historically, the Buffaloes are 10-11-1 in their tournament games, advancing as far as the third round two times, once in 2006 and then again 2013.
“I can make the argument that the length of the season, all the challenges everybody had to go through, the shrunk-down bracket with less at large slots that this might be our best regular season we’ve ever had,” Sanchez said. “I couldn’t be more proud of this group.”
The Buffs played superb soccer throughout the year, boasting a 9-5-2 record with some very quality wins over ranked opponents, including victories against No. 10 ranked California and No. 14 Southern California. They were led by numerous impressive performances throughout the season, including from goalie Dani Hansen, who transferred over to CU before the season. She started 15 of Colorado’s 16 matches in the goalie box and led the PAC-12 in shutouts with seven clean sheets, winning three goalkeeper of the week awards and was named to third-team all-conference. Hansen finished the season with a .882 save percentage, and will look to keep her net clean in the tournament. Junior Hannah Sharts was also recognized with first-team all-conference honors by the PAC-12, after a stellar season on both the offensive and defensive side. She led the team in minutes with 1,502, and put two game-winners in the back of the net throughout the course of the season. The team captain anchored Colorado’s strong season-long defensive effort all year. Freshman Shrya James also proved to be a force in her opening campaign, leading the team in points and goals, finishing with 11 and five, respectively. She scored back-to-back game-winning goals during the season, with one upsetting the 14th ranked Trojans in the 109 minute. The team is riding a four-match unbeaten streak into the tournament, with big wins over PAC-12 opponents, defeating No. 17 ranked Arizona State and Oregon.
“We’ve worked so hard since the end of June to get to this point,” said Sharts. “We’ve done all the right things and I’m really happy we got rewarded in the end. We’re not done yet. We’re very excited.”
Colorado drew South Alabama as their first-round match-up, who were awarded an automatic bid to the tournament following their Sun Belt conference championship. This will be the first ever meeting between the two teams. The Jaguars are also coming into the tournament in form, as they went on a six-game winning streak in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament and outscored their opponents 22-9 in those matches. They played much more soccer than the Buffaloes this year, as CU only played in the spring; the Jags finished the season with a respectable record of 13-8-1, and were led by Junior Brenna Mcpartlan, who in 22 games played scored 31 points with 11 goals. This match will prove to be tough for both squads, as they are equally playing at a high level. The winner will take on Oklahoma St. in the second round, as they received a first-round bye.
Guidelines will allow for 25% capacity in the stadiums for the matches, and will require face masks for entry. The rest of the protocols can be found at NCAA.com. The game will begin at 5pm Mountain Time, and the broadcast can be found on the NCAA’s website as well.
