2018 Colorado Buffaloes

Injury update. Spoiler alert ... not the best of news.

http://www.buffzone.com/soccer/ci_32136569/shorthanded-cu-buffs-soccer-races-past-utah-valley

 

Rankings (United Soccer Coaches):

Allow me, please

North Carolina was the better team, but it's the scoreboard that counts.

1. Stanford (vs Santa Clara on Sunday)
3. USC
7. Santa Clara (Go Broncos !!)
8. UCLA
16. Washington State
29. Colorado
37. Oregon
38. California
39. Arizona

That's eight Pac-12 teams. We get four at home, three on the road.

Top Drawer Soccer has

1. Stanford
5. USC
6. UCLA
13. Washington State
21. Arizona
22. Colorado
30. California

 

Buffs 2, Denver 1

A bit of woulda coulda shoulda on the part of the Buffs, the usual well-played game we would expect from Denver, and a goalkeeping exhibition put on in the second half by their goalkeeper. Haven't seen a performance like that since the season opener at Air Force.

Temperature is supposed to drop into the 80's sometime next week. Mercifully, it was kind of cloudy today, still in the 90's. The lack of air in the air at 5,400 feet makes for rather intense sunlight, which was the case on Thursday.

Marty Puketapu played like her parents had traveled from New Zealand to see her play. Because they had.

Attendance was 916, aided by a sizeable contingent of Denver fans. Stats were more even than I expected, shots 20-16 and on goal 8-7 Buffs, the lopsided one was corner kicks at 13-1 Buffs. Where did our big crowds go?

Jorian Baucom's boot is merely a precaution, she thinks she'll be OK for Oregon State. Taylor Kornieck looks really good with no boot, and Erin Greening with no crutches is a joy to see.

Details to follow, I have to go do a couple of things but I'll be back early this evening.

 

Buffs 2, Denver 1 continued

Marty also played like it's her birthday, which it is.

JJ Tompkins started in goal, Kelsey Aaknes, Jesse Loren, Kayleigh Webb and Sofia Weiner defended, Sarah Kinzner was the holding midfielder, Emily Groark, Stephanie Zuniga and Megan Massey midfielded, and Tatum Barton and Jorian Baucom forwarded. Jesse Loren had to leave the game in the first half last Thursday because of an ouch but she was fine today.

Denver threatened first, five minutes in, JJ Tompkins saved what looked like a shot on goal to me but the scoreboard didn't count it. Two minutes later Tatum Barton put our first shot on goal that was tipped away by the keeper for the first of 13 corner kicks. Emily Groark was leveled just at the outer line of the box, no call, but her crossing pass just before she went down found Tatum whose header just missed. Tatum won a scrum in the box with two defenders, but her shot went high. The Buffs were generating a lot of activity in the box and had several corner kicks early, but Denver was doing a good job disrupting our passing. Denver launched a crossing pass to two players but Jesse cleared it. Emily passed to Tatum kind of open in the box and her shot just missed wide. JJ made a sprawling save as the first quarter ended. Water break, it was in the 90's but the sun was not as intense as it had been on Thursday. The first 12-14 minutes had been mostly Buffs, but Denver evened the run of play the rest of the quarter. Not to ignore anybody else, but freshmen Emily Groark and Kayleigh Webb were playing most extremely well.

The second quarter began with a flurry of activity in the box that the Denver defenders were able to clear. Remember when the ball was totally going to roll over the end line but Jorian ran it down and slid and crossed it to Tatum who scored? This time it was Emily doing the chasing, and her crossing pass found Marty's head, Hello Mom and Dad, Happy Birthday to Me, 1-0 Buffs. DU followed up with a long hard shot but right at JJ. Kayleigh cleared a crossing pass that looked like a dangerous opportunity, she did that all day. Tatum got a shot off just barely wide. Buffs got a throw in maybe 25 yards from the end line. Cheynee Kingsbury was in the game. Look out, here it comes, her flip throw arrived right in front of the goal, it was cleared out of the box but Libby Geraghty was there, she passed it back to Cheynee who now was back on the field so she had to kick it instead of throw it so she did, over the goalkeeper and under the crossbar, 2-0. Good thing. Turns out we needed that. A Pioneer ran hard into Jesse, this is not a good idea, it took her a long time to get up and she left the field very slowly, but she recovered enough to score in the second half. Remember Tori Cooper? She was no fun to run into, Jesse isn't either. Camilla Shymka won a scrum with a couple of defenders and pushed the ball towards the left goalpost, it rolled past the keeper and just before Camilla could catch up to it, it went over the end line maybe an inch wide. Thus ended the half, with a lead that looked more secure than it turned out to be.

Scout Watson took over in the net for the second half. Denver's goalkeeper is Brittany Wilson and she was about to put on a show. Marty began the half with a long breakaway run that she might want back, she didn't shoot when she arrived in the box and a defender ran her down and down went Marty, no call and rightly so. A corner kick was cleared right to Stephanie whose hard volley was brilliantly tipped over the net. Tatum got deep into the box with the ball but was well defended and she couldn't get enough on her shot. There were two pileups in the box, I didn't see the foul but the referee did. Sarah took the penalty kick and Brittany blocked it, right to Tatum whose shot went high. Two Pioneers got open in the box, the one with the ball shot and Scout did very well to block it, but the rebound came right to the other one and Scout had a chance to block that one also but the Pioneer shot under her. This fired them up a bit, and their forwards and midfielders were doing a good job keeping us bottled up when our defenders had the ball. Water break.

Tatum got close to the goal with the ball but her hard shot was blocked by a defender. Katie Joella was battling two Pioneers at the end line and got a pass off to Megan whose shot was brilliantly saved. Then Megan smacked the crossbar with a hard shot. Marty had another long breakaway, this time she fired a great shot just as she arrived in the box which resulted in an equally great save. There was a multi-player melee off a corner kick, someone (Megan?) got a hard shot off and a hand attached to Brittany shot up and deflected it over the net. Several of our corner kicks came off of great plays from Brittany. With a minute left, Denver had a free kick about an inch from the end line and an inch from the side of the box, picture a very short corner kick, the Buffs cleared it out of danger and we went home happy.

Brittany Wilson was credited with six saves, it certainly seems like she had more than that and some of them stole goals from us. Tatum's dad said they have known her since the girls were four and her performance was no surprise at all. It will not surprise me if we see Denver in the playoffs again, they are quite capable of winning the Summit League tournament.

 

Allow me, please.

With injuries to key players, the youngsters have stepped up. Buffs? No, Santa Clara (or yes, AND Santa Clara). The Broncos' non-conference schedule included teams ranked #1, 2 and 4. Got outplayed by all of them. Lost at #4 Texas A&M, defeated #2 North Carolina and ...

https://pac-12.com/videos/recap-no-...a-clara-snaps-29-game-winning-streak-cardinal

To be fair, Stanford was the better team, should keep their #1 ranking, they deserve it. Shots 28-10, on goal 15-5. Stanford shoots like a machine gun. Our young defense is playing well and we are strong in the net. I don't expect us to win there next month, but I do think we can give them a good game. I wish I could afford to make the trip.

 

Tough conference?

Four teams are undefeated. Besides the Buffs ...

Washington State 7-0-0: Road wins at Minnesota and Nebraska.

Stanford 7-0-1: Three overtime games, 2-1 at Minnesota, 2-1 over #2 North Carolina, and the tie with Santa Clara. Also a 2-0 win at BYU.

USC 7-0-1: Tied at #2 Florida State, won 3-0 at Florida. 2-0 over Missouri, 3-2 over University of San Diego and 5-0 over Pepperdine.

Three more with only one loss ...

Arizona 7-1-0: Season opener, at home, outshot Albany 17-5, lost 1-0, Schedule hasn't been brutal, but did beat Baylor 3-1. Opens conference play at Stanford.

Oregon 6-1-1: Lost to Nebraska and tied Kansas, both in Lincoln. Won 2-1 at Portland. Ducks had been 0-16 against the Pilots. Portland has fallen on hard times, still draws 3,000+.

UCLA 5-1-1: Lost 4-1 at #2 Florida State, tied at Florida. 2-1 win at Penn State, a very good team. Yesterday in San Diego, outshot the Aztecs 20-1. 3-0 over Pepperdine, the Waves (campus is in Malibu) have been good the last few years.

And everybody else ...

Arizona State 5-2-2: Not a difficult schedule. Did defeat the Federation of University Sports of China 10-0, shots 29-2, on goal 16-0. FUSC is apparently not the feeder program for China's national team.

Washington 5-2-2: Lost at Florida 2-1 and to Wisconsin 2-1 in overtime. Common opponents, tied Michigan State 1-1 (shots 35-5 Huskies) and defeated Utah Valley 2-1.

California 4-3-1: Defeated Utah Valley 3-0. Lost 4-1 at Santa Clara (of course), 3-2 in overtime to UC Santa Barbara (led 2-0), and 3-1 at #20 Oklahoma State. They are picked ahead of us in the Pac-12, but I think that's a winnable road game for us.

Utah 3-4-1: Played very well in a 3-2 loss to BYU. Last year, started conference play ranked and finished last at 0-9-2. Got shut out the first five games, finally scored at UCLA. Coach made it quite clear that they gave up on themselves. We had a rough conference season not long ago, came in last, had chemistry issues, corrected them and have done well since. I expect that Utah will be much improved.

Oregon State 1-7-0. Been outscored 19-4. Defeated Dartmouth 1-0 in overtime. Their extremely outstanding goalkeeper graduated. We open conference play there, perhaps a lucky break if Erin or Taylor are still out, or if Jorian is not 100%.

So that's our conference, so far. We get the Washingtons, Oregon, USC & UCLA, and Utah at home. Even if everybody is healthy except Hannah, I will faint dead away if we win all six. Five? A good bounce here and there, not impossible, but that would require at least one major upset. I think we can beat Cal there. The road game I worry about is Arizona. They outplayed us in Boulder last year, and although we are better, so are they.

 

From the Denver game:

The ball was definitely headed over the end line. But along comes Emily (she is fast) who got it all the way across the goal mouth to ...
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Marty, who headed it into the right side of the goal where the keeper couldn't reach it and who seemed pleased with that development.
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But during the second half, Denver's goalkeeper did this to us several times.
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And Scout seemed to have no regard for gravity.
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21's 21st

 

Here is a clip from 2009 featuring.

Colorado - Kayleigh Webb
Wash.- Ruby Hellstrom
UCSD - Tina Oddone
Miami - Morgan Asmussen
Long Beach St. - Ashley Seymour
Chapman - Riley Pidgeon
UCLA - Lauren Brzykcy and Maddi Desiano

Possibly - I cannot recall as these girls played with the Blues on same team as Maddi and Lauren, but I do not remember if they were at that game.
Skylar Smith - Santa Clara
The Hocking twins - AZ and USC
Ashley Soto - USC

These girls were 8 or 9 yrs old.

 

That team was sure loaded. They did win the State Cup, didn't they?

 

RPI

It's out, and the Pac-12 gets slightly less than no respect.

1. Texas A&M (beat Santa Clara 4-0 in Texas)
3. Santa Clara (played A&M way better than the score)
8. Stanford (and it gets weirder)
17. Oregon (told you)
26. Southern California
29. Washington State
37. Arizona (notice somebody missing?)
41. UCLA (THERE they are)
49. WE ARE BETTER THAN THAT !!!
51. Colorado College (two below us? No way.)
65. Missouri (6-0 Buffs)
97. Arizona State
99. Washington
100. California
112. Michigan State
114. Air Force
116. Northern Colorado
128. Iowa State
152. Colorado State (best ever, they did tie a good team again)
156. Texas San Antonio
176. Oregon State
179. Marquette
181. Utah (I think they'll do better than that)
199. Denver (and the conference is weak)
254. Utah Valley (no bonus points for a brutal schedule)

But I see the problem, look at our opponents so far.

The rankings seem a bit more reasonable:

1. Stanford (did lose three #1 votes, was unanimous)
3. Southern California (got one #1 vote)
8. UCLA
14. Washington State
23. Thundering herd of large prairie animals
33. Arizona
35. Oregon

Santa Clara (GO Broncos!!) are #6, finish the regular season at BYU, could win out until then. We played them several years ago at Stanford, lost 1-0 in overtime in a game they completely owned, we actually did much better losing to Stanford 4-0 two days before. May we not play them again until after I am dead. HATED rooting against them.

 

Also nominated for Pac-12 Player of the Week, Jorian Baucom on offense, and Kayleigh Webb on defense.

 

Wow!! Thank you for the heads up!

 

Here we go ...

https://cubuffs.com/news/2018/9/19/soccer-buffs-take-unbeaten-streak-into-conference-play.aspx

 

I will be driving over the mountains late this afternoon to visit my family, so I'll miss the game. Wouldn't matter even if I was home, I don't have the Pac-12 network and I doubt that there will be any free streaming once conference play starts. I invite (request) anyone who can watch it to share their opinions with us.

The Beavers have ten freshmen, two of them start including the goalkeeper, and a transfer. The offense has struggled, they average less than eight shots a game and have scored four goals. We "should" be OK today even if Erin and Taylor (and Jorian?) are out along with Hannah who's out for the season. We are strong in the net, the freshmen have REALLY stepped up on defense, and we are deep at forward.

That said, the Beavers are at home and I suspect are quite hungry.

 

Thirteen minutes in, Buffs 3, Beavers 0. Emily, Jorian and Tatum. Taylor with two assists.

Can't watch it, so I'll get back on the road.

 

Emily's first career goal, two for Jorian, two for Tatum, and Camilla's first of the season. Assists for JJ (from far away), Megan, Jorian, Isobel, Stephanie ... and THREE for Taylor.

Stats were more even. Shots 18-13, on goal 11-5, corner kicks 1-1. Tough afternoon for their freshman goalkeeper, it looks like she did everything she could and I hope a lot of people tell her that.

Highlights are here:

https://pac-12.com/videos/recap-col...oregon-state-picks-largest-win-joining-pac-12

and here

https://twitter.com/CUBuffsSoccer?r...hreads/2018-colorado-buffaloes.2081026/page-8