I will make this the official match thread.
An initial preview has already been written-
Direct link -
https://cubuffs.com/news/2019/11/11/soccer-colorado-hosts-first-round-of-ncaa-tournament.aspx
Full article-
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BOULDER – The Colorado Buffaloes erupted in celebration upon hearing their name announced towards the end of Monday's NCAA Women's Soccer selection show.
Danny Sanchez and Co. will host Northern Colorado, in first-round play.
Kickoff is set for noon MT on Saturday. Tickets are $10 for adults and $6 for youth. CU and Northern Colorado students are $6 with a student ID. Broadcast information will be announced when it becomes available.
Colorado finished the year with an 11-7-2 record. The Buffs had seven matches against teams in the top-40 RPI, including a statement win on the road at then No. 21 Washington. The Pac-12 Conference is well represented, boasting nine teams in this year's tournament.
Northern Colorado (9-10-4) was the No. 4 seed in the Big Sky Tournament and rattled off three consecutive wins to earn the conference's automatic bid.
The Buffs waited 365 days to get their shot at redemption. Colorado was on the outside looking in after last season's selections were announced. The team has had a full year to think about that day and made it a goal to not be left out this time around.
"I'm very happy for the team," Sanchez stated. "But I'm really happy for our five seniors. Last year was disheartening, but that is the nature of sports. I thought that the team worked really hard and committed themselves. Just like a lot of teams, we had to deal with adversity. But they got results when they needed to. They earned their way into the NCAA Tournament."
Last season's abrupt end helped fuel Colorado's desire, even more, this season.
"We've always had this [bad] taste in our mouth and we knew what it was like," senior
Stephanie Zuniga recalled about last season's finish. "To sit there last year and not hear our name called was super heartbreaking. It was super unfortunate because of the great season we had, but ultimately it just wasn't enough.
"This year we've had our ups and downs and I'm just glad we were able to have an opportunity to get another shot. We're hosing a great team and we're really happy and excited. We just have so many emotions going on right now."
Saturday's first-round will be a rematch from earlier this season. Colorado hosted Northern Colorado back on Sept. 19, resulting in a 4-0 win for the Buffs. Senior
Taylor Kornieck scored two of CU's three first-half goals. Freshman
Tessa Barton and junior
Katie Joella picked up goals three and four.
That was then. This is now.
"The match earlier this year might as well have been five years ago," Sanchez explained. "Northern Colorado played a brutal non-conference schedule, including a couple of stretches where they played three games in five days on the road. Our match against them was their third in a row against a Power 5 team on the road. We were pleased we won the match at the time, but I don't think it has any bearing on the match this Saturday.
"UNC is playing with a ton of confidence. They are very well-coached. I have a lot of respect for Tim [Barrera] and their program. They are coming off three huge wins at home and have a ton of momentum. We are expecting a battle."
The selection to the 64-team tournament field is the 11th in CU's 24-year history. It is the fifth time the team has made the NCAA Tournament under Sanchez's lead, including the third in the last four years.
Colorado is 9-10-1 overall in NCAA Tournament play, including a 5-4-0 record since Sanchez arrived in Boulder.
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Tickets -
https://ev12.evenue.net/cgi-bin/nco...29.1596857521.1573399183-527553426.1535488137
Match Media links -
Live video - Match is being shown live on the Pac 12 Mountain channel. For those whose Cable/ Satellite/ Cord Cutting subscription includes access to that Pac 12 channel, assume the match can also be streamed through a link at
https://pac-12.com/womens-soccer/event/2019/11/16/northern-colorado-colorado .
Live stats (Assume the normal link will work, in which case it is) - https://cubuffs.com/sidearmstats/wsoc/summary