Sophomore Caroline Danneberg plays both offense and defense for the Buffs. CU defeated visiting Denver 1-0 in second overtime Sept. 4. (CU Independent/Adam Alberti)
The Colorado Buffaloes soccer team’s trip to sunny California wasn’t as bright as they had hoped.
No. 23 CU lost 1-0 in overtime to No. 12 Santa Clara on Sunday in the Stanford/NIKE Invitational at Stanford University. The loss was CU’s third straight and they are now 1-4 against ranked foes. The Buffs are 4-5 while Santa Clara improved to 7-2.
But the fact that the game went into overtime showed how resilient the Buffs were; they were bombarded as if they were at the Alamo.
In the first half, the Broncos outshot the Buffs 11-2. However, CU made their shot attempts count.
Freshman Amy Barczuk fired CU’s first shot from 25 yards out and the ball sailed just inches high of the goal’s crossbar. Later, freshman Shaye Marshall scored on a through ball, which is a pass between defenders into the open space with the idea that a forward will beat the defenders to the ball, but her goal was called back due to an offsides call.
In the 71st minute, senior goalkeeper Kara Linder kept the game scoreless when she tipped Allie Vernon’s shot over the goal and out of play.
Nonetheless, Santa Clara persevered and in the 99th minute, they finally broke through. The Broncos were awarded back-to-back corner kicks and on the second attempt, Olivia Klei’s cross found Kiki Bosio whose shot into the back of the net won the game.
Linder made a career-high seven saves because Santa Clara outshot CU 27-3.
“Kara was brilliant again today,” head coach Bill Hempen said in a news release. “But unfortunately, our early losses this year are hurting us now. We just played three tough games in a row and our team certainly understands what it’s like to compete at the highest level and be an elite program.”
CU lost 4-0 Friday against host Stanford and was held scoreless in the two-game tournament. They will return home to finish the remainder of the Big 12 Conference schedule beginning with a match against archrival Nebraska at 4 p.m. on Friday at Prentup Field.
Contact CU Independent Sports Editor Cheng Sio at Cheng.Sio@colorado.edu.
