2016 Colorado Buffaloes

Excellent idea !! Goodbye 2015, a few weeks early.

Sarah is also from Calgary, maybe she put in a good word for CU. My concern is that we are 11 months away from running out of Australians. I am SO HAPPY that we get Kahlia for another year.

Canada 2, Trinidad 0. Canada 7, Jamaica 0. They still have to face host Honduras, but are already through to the next round. Sarah scored in both games.

 

Do not be surprised if we have one or two new Aussies on the roster before too long.

 

From your last posts in Colorado 2015 ... BuffsPios, you may sound like a homer and I definitely walk around wearing rose-colored glasses that say Colorado Soccer on the frames, but I think the program is in good hands and attracts good people. Maybe it will take more than a couple of game-breakers for us to be a top-10 team. We graduated some good players this year, and our RPI was two above Northern Colorado (155 and 157). But Coach Sanchez can recruit. And coach ... the very first spring soccer game he coached, my observation was that the team is playing good soccer again. He'd had them for a couple of weeks.

I could be totally mistaken, but I do believe there were chemistry issues this past season. I saw what certainly looked like a couple of them. It happens ... look at UCLA. Their whole was way less than the sum of the parts, as was ours. I also believe they will be greatly reduced, if not eliminated, next season.

Yeah, Camilla has talent. If she's good enough to be a substitute on Canada's U-20 team at age 17, she's good. And my request for Santa ...

Three more Aussies, oi, oi, oi !!

 

That's the spirit! Again, I have no inside information, but I'd be surprised if we don't have a couple of more Aussies in Boulder between the coming 2016 class and 2018. And beyond soccer, I just think it's a fantastic experience for the international players to play in America, especially a place like Boulder/Colorado, and for the American girls to become friends with them, maybe visit them and their families in the future in their home countries, and forge those life-long friendships that equal or surpass any experiences they might have together on the pitch. It obviously takes some bravery on the part of the players and their parents to leave their home country, especially for the Aussies, but the reality is that these days it's only a hop skip and jump back home (15 hours from LA) to have in the back of one's mind, and there is also quite a lot of Aussie exchange students in Boulder every semester anyway that can help cure home-sickness. Maybe it's there in hiding, but I also never get the sense that the team has cliques, other than each class maybe being closer to each other as is natural for college students whether playing sports or not. It just seems like a family atmosphere from top to bottom. If there is some dissension on the team right now I'm sure it will be resolved. Maybe there'll be a couple of transfers out, but if so, probably for playing-time or being closer to home issues. Happens all the time, even from the top programs, even from a top private like Notre Dame. The one place I can think of that probably rarely if ever has a transfer out is Stanford...hard to give-up that diploma/pedigree. Maybe North Carolina too, but their almost platoon system of playing seemingly solves most of the playing-time issues since just about everyone who is healthy gets a good amount of minutes. Just for fun I think I'll go out on a Eucalyptus limb and predict that we will have a new top rated young lady from Australia in the 2016 class. You really have to read between the lines in doing research/detective work on international players committing to U.S. schools, as the recruiting services usually aren't aware of U.S. teams'-international communications...they're usually off the radar understandably. But my instincts were right about Ms. Shymka coming here...I'm just not specific about naming names even when I have a quasi-educated hunch. Again...this is from research that is completely outside the program. I have never talked to anyone in the program beyond saying hello and nice game to some players and their parents. It will be nice for both Sarah and Camilla to be team mates and home-country buddies, not to mention adding Camilla's technical and speedy talent to the roster. I also have a good feeling that we are going to do really well with some amazingly highly rated home-grown American players for the class of 2018. These are kids who can help take CU to a PAC-12 Championship and will be exciting for fans to watch and cheer on. Patience. Confidence.

 

BTW, my recruiting "sources" and "detective work" is nothing more than quasi-educated guessing from reading between the lines of various social media platforms. I do the same with DU hockey and men's lax and soccer. The main "talent" and "skill" required is being retired with too much time on one's hands LOL.

 

Re RPI, if you have a winning record in the PAC-12 it will mostly take care of itself. In theory we had some good non-conf games this season with Iowa State, DU, CC and Northwestern, won three, should have won the fourth, but all except Northwestern (the loss) had mediocre or worse years. Of course we should have beaten CSU, and I hope next season we have an exhibition game scheduled with a good non-Colorado team so we don't look shell-shocked in game 1 if the other team scores first. Granted, that CSU environment was the craziest and most vocal audience of the season in-state. We presumably have them in Boulder in 2016, but I think that a pre-season game or two is crucial for lots of reasons, not just for the Colorado Cup games. DU should be back on track soon based on their upcoming recruits ...not on our level recruiting-wise, but pretty darn good considering they are in the Summit League (who wants to travel to those towns.)

 

Sad to see Brittany go. She seemed like a great kid...I enjoyed the couple of conversations I had with her parents. She definitely had a nose for the goal as demonstrated Freshman year. No player seemed to have much of that this year. I'm sure she will do well at Wyoming. I wonder if we will have them on the schedule in 2016 and/or 2017. At least might be a good pre-season game. We (and every team) need one or two of those before the games that count start.

 

I expected this. She and her sister Michaela want to be on the same team. Apparently we didn't want Michaela, who will be a freshman at Wyoming. Our pipeline must be very good, because so is Michaela.

 

Our pipelines are excellent and only getting better. Still sad to see Brittney go, she will be missed by the team as player and friend (and by the fans), but will likely play 60-70+ minutes for the Cowgirls. And what a great situation to get to play with your sister. Easier on the parents too for only having to follow one team. Plus you can get some phenomenal fireworks in WY on the way to/from home. Wyoming, thanks in large part to Danny's contribution in building the program, is probably one more team we should play regularly in the pre-season, although maybe because of the Colorado Cup we need to branch out more to schools from further away, and with potentially higher RPIs. Of course we have to beat them...something I think we'll definitely see more of next year.

 

Being American-Canadian myself, I am especially psyched that we will now have two Canadian Buffs, particularly since they are both such top players who also have "the right stuff" in terms of competitive spirit/personalities. Another plus is that both Sarah and Ms. Shymka add height to our roster...that's always helpful, not the least of which is with corner kicks, on both the offensive and defensive ends of the pitch, and of course in the mid-field for helping to gain possession/control on long balls sent up from the goalkeeper. Here's a link to a photo of the Canadian U20 team...Sarah is her usual #10, and I'm pretty sure that Camilla is #14. http://canadasoccer.com/index.php?t=csa_project&sid=1054. The Final of the CONCACAF U20 tourney in Honduras today is the US vs. CAN. This game seems almost a formality since the main purpose of this week's games was to qualify for the U20 World Cup in Papua New Guinea next November-early December, which both the Canadian and US U20s did. Another fantastically talented (and tall) player who will be a Buff next season is Taylor Kornieck, who is currently on the USU18 team, and seems always to get rave reviews for her play on that team. With the great players we have returning, I think it's safe to say that we have a lot of studs who will be able to put a hurtin' on their PAC-12 sister schools in 2016 and beyond.

 

Two great soccer games on TV yesterday! Stanford Men winning the NCAAs beating Clemson 4-0, and the USW U20s beating Canada 1-0 in the CONCACAF Final. The Broncos had a game in-between but forgot to play. Sorry for the Buff Canadians... they lost a tough one...looked like it was heading to OT then probably PKs before the CAN 16 year old GK made a shaky decision and Ashley Sanchez took advantage for the Americans (she's the #1 ranked player for 2017... committed to UCLA; her team mate Mallory Pugh from Highlands Ranch mentioned above is the #1 ranked 2016 player...going to UCLA.) All these girls on both teams looked pretty tired yesterday...each team had played 5 games in 9 days, and the Canadians a 120 minute game two days earlier. As noted above, Sara started every game, and I think Camilla played in a couple or so. Looked like Sara was subbed in the 2nd half to get another Forward in. All in all, probably a good experience in lots of ways for the players on both teams.

 

Tall is good, especially since we lose Heather Ward.

Very happy for Sarah and Camilla, representing Canada at the U-20 championships in Papua New Guinea.

In the Unrelated Trivia Department, Kahlia Hogg's father works (or did) in Papua New Guinea.

 

Alyssa Herwatt transferring to Michigan. Answers the question of why she never saw the pitch this year Looks like she will have 2 seasons of eligibility

 

Sarah !!

Silver medal from the CONCACAF Women's Under-20 tournament.

http://www.cubuffs.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=600&ATCLID=210592087

 

Predictions - There are going to be several sophomore and freshman starters in 2016. We will finish in the top half of the PAC-12 and return to the NCAA tournament. We will upset one of the following: UCLA, Stanford. We will split, or better, our away-trip series. We'll have at least 10 more goals for the season than we did in 2015. The GK job is going to be very competitive. We will be a bigger, stronger, tougher, and faster team. Prentup will be a more hostile environment for visiting teams than in the past. The Kingfishers and Bank Swallows from nearby Boulder Creek will start attacking the visitors' bench. OK...well...I think all but the last prediction will happen :>).

 

I'd consider going to the team banquet this year in January to have fun and support the players and coaches except that I don't know anyone personally and would feel like an interloper. I might send in a donation for it though. It would be cool if they took video of some of it and posted it on cubuffs.com. Might go to the DU Men's banquet. They should be just as good next year...most starters returning. Ended-up ranked 17th with only one loss for the season (in the NCAAs....1-0.) As we know, DU Women had a rocky year to put it mildly, but still seem to be recruiting pretty well. They should be improved in 2016.

 

I missed the last banquet because of work but I have already told them about this one and I will NOT miss it. I'll let everybody know if anything exciting takes place and I'll get a couple of pictures.

The DU women improved as the season progressed. They are well-coached and offer a very attractive university to a prospective student-athlete. Their biggest drawback is the weird conference they are in. They belong in the West ... oh, never mind, I'm repeating myself.

 

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And, I just re-repped.

 

Derbarkasmann - Without naming names in addition to those you already have, I can think of two incoming Freshman who are likely to start. Wouldn't surprise me if another 1-2 sophomores ended-up in the first 11 also.

 

Sad to see Alyssa go.. what a great opportunity for her at Michigan. CU never got the chance to really see her in action. She will do well at Michigan and obviously will be playing for a coach who sees her value. A great teammate on and off the field! Must be a good student too. Wonder if she will play Holding Mid or Center Back... her primary positions on her Club and Regional ODP teams.
Wish her the best!