Every four years, the NCAA allows collegiate soccer teams to make trips abroad outside of their regular season. It’s a trip that University of Colorado soccer head coach Danny Sanchez knows well: he took it when he was the head coach of Metro State University and then one more time with the University of Wyoming. This past Thursday, Sanchez again stepped on a plane and embarked for Europe, but this time with the University of Colorado Buffaloes, fresh off a season that included a trip to the NCAA tournament.
While other students might be soaking up sun on Mexican beaches or grabbing some end-of-the-year snow in the mountains, Buffs soccer will be squaring off against some of the best professional teams that Spain has to offer. Many around the world know of FC Barcelona, the wildly successful Catalan club that boasts international superstars Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez. But most don’t realize that the organization has an equally successful women’s side in La Blaugrana, who won the La Liga women’s title for the last three years. Prior to La Blaugrana’s rise to prominence, a club by the name of Rayo Vallecano reigned supreme, winning La Liga three times prior to Barca’s dominance.
Both clubs will play host to Colorado this week.
It can be seen as a daunting task, but players like sophomore forward Brie Hooks and junior midfielder Olivia Pappalardo embrace it. After all, it isn’t everyday you get to match up against some of the best professional teams in Europe.
“Yea, it’s kind of crazy,” said Pappalardo shortly before the team left for Spain. “When Danny (Sanchez) told us we were playing FC Barcelona, most of us just said ‘oh god’ but then ‘okay let’s do it: bring it on!’”
Other than staying fit and preparing for another competitive season in the Pac-12, which continues to be one of the toughest conferences in Division I women’s soccer, Sanchez says the trip’s true purpose is to expose his players to another culture and to build chemistry abroad.
Having been on this trip twice already, Sanchez has an idea of how the team will spend most of their time in Spain.
“The soccer piece is important but it’s not the main reason for the trip,” said Sanchez. “I think we’re gonna do a lot of tourist things that people read about or see in their books. We’re gonna give them a lot of downtime and free time too where they can explore Madrid, explore Barcelona and meet the people and get the most out of their experience.”
The excitement from the players was palpable, as most of the team has never been to Spain before and were eager to get on the plane last week. Plans have been in the works for almost a year, and players like Brie Hooks started counting down the days once the offseason began. For Hooks, a player who has been at the center of CU’s attack for the last two years, playing in front of elite Spanish club coaches is an added bonus.
“It’ll be cool to see where we stand with people of that caliber as well as hopefully learn a few things from them because if you play against better players you’re going to get better,” said Hooks. “I think we’re all gonna play our best and to see that we performed well against teams like that it’ll be very cool.”
What’s even cooler, Hooks says, is the fact that the team will be heading to a country where soccer is the national sport, and is very prominent in people’s day-to-day lives.
“I think just going into a culture where soccer is important will be great for our team to experience that,” Hooks said. “Obviously, soccer is really important to us and to be around other people that share the same love for it will be really cool.”
Three days into CU’s spring break, Colorado soccer is in the midst of balancing work and play in Europe. They’ll visit Barcelona, Vallecano, and one more lower division team, La Rocca, during the week to scrimmage and train with. Once they return, it’s back to prepping for a big 2015 Pac-12 season.
But for now, Sanchez contends, the goal is to have his players play the game they enjoy while getting a life experience all the while. And, to this humble sports writer, that’s why people take part in the beautiful game.
Contact CU Independent Sports Editor Andrew Haubner at Andrew.Haubner@Colorado.edu or on twitter @A_G_Haubner.
