Season ends with Sunday loss to Portand
It was a season of ups and downs and highs and lows.
Members of the CU soccer team saw their season to an end Sunday after a 1-0 loss against Portland at Prentup Field.
Coming off one of the best seasons in Colorado history in 2006, the Buffs didn’t seem to live up to the hype of the preseason.
“We were unable to string together a group a victories that would give you the confidence to get another string of victories,” said head coach Bill Hempen. “It was win two, lose one — lose three, win four. It took its toll us.”
After finishing 10 wins, eight losses and four ties (5-5 conference record), the Buffs managed to sneak into the NCAA Tournament.
“The high point of the season was getting to the NCAA Tournament,” Hempen said. “We didn’t feel like we did that well, and yet somebody thought we did good enough – so evidently our standards are pretty good.”
After kicking off the season with a big win over Denver, the Buffs struggled against ranked Virginia and Stanford. Last season, Colorado had victories over then ranked No. 7 Texas A&M and No. 14 Utah. But this season, the team’s only victory over a ranked opponent came against Oklahoma State, which was ranked No. 25 at the time.
CU beat Hawaii in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, but was ousted by Portland in the second round just 36 hours later. Even after Boulder was chosen to host the early rounds of the tournament, the Buffs were unable to defend their home-field advantage. This proved to be a problem all throughout the season.
“The low point for us was probably losing the two games against Kansas and Missouri during the last home weekend of the year,” Hempen said. “You try and protect your home turf, and we were unable to do it with any great success this year.”
While the team is still disappointed with Sunday’s lost, they are already beginning to think about what is next to come.
“These girls want to know how they can get better,” Hempen said. “For me to hash out the past is not the way to go about preparing for this team for the future. We can’t worry about what we didn’t do, we have to worry about what lies ahead.”
Next season, the Buffs will lose only two seniors – Allison Kidd and Brittany Dornseif. Hempen said that the women will have “no excuses” once the 2008 season begins.
“They’re going to have all of spring to continue play together and find themselves as a team and find out what they really stand for,” Hempen said.
