Brie Hooks (20) looks for the pass to a fellow Buff during last week’s game against San Francisco. Colorado is entering the Pac-12 conference with a strong 7-2 record this season. (Gray Bender/CU Independent)
Christen Press, Betsy Hassett, Alex Morgan and Sydney Leroux.
Those aren’t just the names of four current United States women’s national team soccer players, they are also distinguished alums of Pac-12 soccer. The conference is consistently the toughest women’s soccer conference in the country, often producing players such as the aforementioned four. On Saturday, the University of Colorado will enter the gauntlet that is Pac-12 play, with a bout against Morgan’s alma mater, the University of California.
But after an NCAA Sweet 16 run last year, CU is looking to make their mark on the West Coast soccer world. The Buffs, led by a strong core of returning players, are 7-2, riding a four game win-streak. During that time, they defeated the University of Denver and the University of San Francisco, two of the top non-power conference teams, in convincing fashion.
An offense game that once struggled to produce goals is on a scoring tear, netting 10 goals total over the last four games. The success starts in the backline, which is led by senior goalkeeper Kate Scheele. Amid changing back-lines and an injury to centerback Alex Huynh, Scheele has hung tough, only allowing four goals in the entire season. The Buffs are heading into Saturday’s game in confident fashion after a week of intense practice in Boulder.
“It’s been really intense, which is good because it’s good to keep the legs going,” Scheele said. “And the defense has been awesome, we have some changes in the back and we’re really excited to see what happens.”
While defenders have changed over the past few games, CU has found a good core of players that rotate games and trade minutes. Coach Sanchez enjoys the depth his team has in the back and knows the team will not falter even though Huynh is injured.
“We have a lot of experience back there,” Sanchez said. “And we have a lot of depth so we feel good about where we’re at and the players that we have that will step up because we have a lot of options back there.”
The key matchup of Saturday’s game will be the backline of Colorado against the potent Golden Bears attack. Cal, who is ranked 10th in the nation, is currently 8-1. The one loss came in double overtime to Texas Tech, who is ranked number seven in the country. Senior midfielder Taylor Comeau leads the Golden Bears with six goals and three assists on the season, while 10 different players have scored at least once for the team.
While the first match of conference play is usually vital in setting the tone for the year, coach Sanchez believes that CU’s schedule negates the potential confidence boost a home match would provide. The Buffs go on the road for five straight games after hosting Cal, which includes visits to UCLA (No. 3) and Stanford University (No. 4). Using Colorado football as a reference, Sanchez says his team needs to take it one game at a time.
“We have this one and then we have five on the road,” Sanchez explained. “We’d like to get off to a good start, but it’s not the end of the world either way. It’s all a cliche, but I really like football’s idea of trying to go 1-0 this week, so we’re trying to go 1-0 this week.”
The Buffs kick off at 1 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 27, at Prentup Field in Boulder. The game will include a run from CU’s favorite mascot, Ralphie.
Contact CU Independent Sports Editor Andrew Haubner at Andrew.haubner@colorado.edu
