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2021/22 SOCCER general off-season news thread (Non-conf. sched. released. 1st match Aug. 18th)

AztecBuff

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I always like to set up these threads for all the sports to account for any off-season and spring (for this sport) scrimmage and training period news.

With the season over for more than a month, there will be a little catch-up to do.

1st, just a quick look back with some summary numbers from this past season:
Record - 8-7-4 overall; 3-4-4 in Pac 12 play, which ended them up in 7th place.
RPI - It looks like the last RPI on the NCAA website (https://www.ncaa.com/rankings/soccer-women/d1/ncaa-womens-soccer-rpi) is from 11/7, or right before the NCAA tourney began. The Buffs were rated #51 at that point.
Massey - #42

__________________________________________________________________________________


And, the 1st announcements out I saw for post-season were some individual recogntions announced last month

1) Congrats to senior*** Hannah Sharts (1st team), senior Shanade Hopcroft (2nd team) and sophomore Shyra James (3rd team) for being named to the All- Pac 12 teams. (Article - https://cubuffs.com/news/2021/11/12/soccer-three-buffs-earn-pac-12-honors.aspx).

2) The same 3 were then also named to the United Soccer Coaches' All-Pacific (Region) Teams, with Ms. Sharts named to the 2nd team, and Ms's. Hopcroft and James 3rd team.

(***Ms. Sharts, although listed as a senior this past season, hasn't taken her "Covid year" yet, and, along with fellow senior Hannah Cardenas, wasn't included in November's Senior Day ceremonies. Therefore, I assume both at least left the option open to return to Boulder (or do a grad transfer thing) next season. Hope it's Boulder!)

 
Hope all on the team had a great time at their annual awards ceremony, which was held yesterday.

Article - https://cubuffs.com/news/2022/1/22/soccer-celebrates-2021-season.aspx

"
BOULDER – The Colorado soccer team put a bow on top of the 2021 season on Friday. The Buffaloes hosted their annual end of the year banquet, handing out team awards and celebrating the success of the past season.

Colorado finished 8-7-4 in 2021 and a 54 RPI, putting them just on the outside of the NCAA Tournament field. The season got out to a 2-0 start when CU hosted No. 1 Florida State in front of 2,536 fans at Prentup Field. Allie Palangi scored the first goal allowed by FSU on the season in a closely contested 2-1 loss. The Buffs also scored their first-ever result against Stanford in 2021, playing to a 2-2 draw in October.

2021 Team Awards
MVP – Shanade Hopcroft
Offensive MVP – Shyra James
Defensive MVP – Hannah Sharts
Herbst Academic Award – Sofia Weiner
Strength & Conditioning Award – Hailey Stodden
Newcomer of the Year – Phoenix Miranda
...
"


Photo gallery - https://www.facebook.com/media/set?vanity=cubuffssoccer&set=a.4826775420698649

Highlight video -

 
Preview of Saturday's match, along with an update on the spring training period.




Direct link - https://cubuffs.com/news/2022/3/31/soccer-buffs-continue-spring-tune-up.aspx

"
BOULDER—Colorado soccer returned to the pitch this week to continue its spring preparations. The Buffaloes head into a packed April calendar, starting with hosting BYU this Saturday (noon MT) at Prentup Field.

The Buffs have been in their offseason program since the start of the second semester, pausing for last week's Spring Break. Colorado returns 19 players who saw action in 2021 and 21 players in all from last season's rosters and looks to build upon its 8-7-4 finish.

"It's been a good winter and spring so far," head coach Danny Sanchez explained. "Our numbers are low, like a lot of programs in the country so we manage our loads in training and matches. We're excited to play over the next four weekends against some very good teams. It will be a good test for ourselves to see where our players are at as we build towards August."

The Buffs will have three of its top four scorers return in the 2022 lineup but lose the team's top scorer in Shanade Hopcroft. One piece that figures to fill some of that scoring is sophomore Jenny Beyer. Beyer missed all of last season recovering from a knee injury she suffered in the 2020 season which, due to COVID, was played in the spring of 2021. Beyer started 10 games in 2020 and played in 11 total, recording one assist.

"Jenny's been great," Sanchez added. "She was chomping at the bit in the fall to get back out there. She's fully cleared in January, and I think she looks really good. I know she's excited to get out and play again over the next four weekends."

BYU, the 2021 national runner-up, will be CU's third contest of the spring. The Buffs played a non-traditional match against BC United Women and then played UCCS to a 4-0 decision back on Mar. 13.

"It's not all about results in the spring," Sanchez continued. "However, what you want to see is a progression of your program. If you're going to test yourself in the spring, test yourself against a top-five team, which they [BYU] is. We're excited for the opportunity on Saturday."

CU will head off to Lincoln, Neb., to take on the Huskers next Saturday. The final two spring dates will be back at Prentup Field, hosting Wyoming (Apr. 16) and then the Colorado Cup on April 23.

All spring matches at Prentup Field are free admittance.
 
Looks like the Buffs ended up with a very respectable 2-3 loss against last season's NCAA Champion runners-up. (Since the Buffs equalized in the 88th minute, assume the Cougars must have either scored a VERY late goal, or won in OT.)




Info (Tweets) on the 2 Buff goals -



 
Great to see that, after ending up with new teams this season, both Ms.'s Kornieck (who moved from Orlando to San Diego) and Baucom (who I believe has gone from Louisville to North Carolina) have already earned some good playing time in the U.S's top league (the NWSL) -







 
Article after Saturday's scrimmage -




Direct link - https://cubuffs.com/news/2022/4/4/soccer-positives-aplenty-against-byu.aspx

"
BOULDER—Colorado soccer hosted national runner-up BYU at Prentup Field this past Saturday. The Cougars got the 3-2 decision in the spring tune-up, but the Buffaloes have plenty to build off of the remainder of the spring.

"We really appreciate BYU coming down [to play us]," head coach Danny Sanchez commented. "It was a beautiful day for soccer. I thought you could see the quality of BYU, but I thought for the first time playing 11 aside out here at Prentup – with our numbers, I was pleased. I thought there were some really good individual efforts. Obviously, disappointed to give up the goal basically at the death, but credit to them. It was a great run from the outside back and a nice finish. We'll take the positives from it as we build towards the rest of the spring."

The Cougars got the first tally just before the end of the first half to take a 1-0 lead after the first 45 minutes.

CU got back to even in the 54th minute, thanks to a BYU own goal. The Cougars struck again two minutes later to get regain the one-goal advantage.

The Buffs spent a majority of the remaining minutes pressing the Cougars in their zone. CU's efforts paid off in the 88th minute, with Shyra James burring a feed from Kayleigh Webb to tie the game back up at 2.

BYU answered right back in the 89th minute, leaving CU very little time to answer.

"What I liked was when we were down a goal in the second half, we were really pressing with a lot of energy," Sanchez noted. "We're creating a lot of chances, half chances to be fair, but still creating chances. We have to play with that urgency throughout the time. Like I said, disappointed to give up the goal at the end, but if you're going to be honest with yourself it's probably a fair result."

Colorado got a lot of opportunities to run over some set pieces in the second half. Last season, Shanade Hopcroft took a majority of the corner kicks. With her departure players like Jenny Beyer, Lawson Willis and Allie Palangi are getting opportunities to serve up set plays.

"We don't spend any time in the spring on set pieces," Sanchez explained. "I thought that we did a really good job of getting in the final third and winning corner kicks and winning some fouls in the final third that were dangerous. We didn't get a lot from the run of play but I thought that the game-tying goal from Kayleigh to Shyra was just an effort goal. If you're playing with effort, you give yourself a chance."

Sophomore Bella Grust once again started in net for the Buffs. Senior Dani Hansen came in in relief at the start of the second half.

"I thought Bella did well in the first half," Sanchez added. "To be fair on the first goal I think it was sort of a miss-hit cross. I thought she showed good composure and red the game well. Then Dani dealt with what she needed to in the second half. Both goals she didn't have a chance on really. I was pleased with the goalkeepers and how they played."

The Buffs will take to the road this week and head to Nebraska on Saturday, before returning home to play Wyoming on Apr. 16.
"
 
Cool that one of he greatest Buff players ever is coming on as a coach.

Welcome and congrats to Ms. Marshall!




Direct link - https://cubuffs.com/news/2022/4/6/soccer-buffs-add-hall-of-famer-to-staff.aspx

"
BOULDER—One of the greatest Colorado soccer players to don the Black and Gold will be returning to the sidelines at Prentup Field this season. 2021 Colorado Athletics Hall of Famer inductee Nikki (Marshall) Malone has joined head coach Danny Sanchez's staff as a volunteer assistant for the 2022 season.

It will be Malone's second stint on Sanchez's coaching team. She was a volunteer assistant for the Buffaloes in 2016.
...
"
 
saw some of the live stream from the Neb game and they gave up 2 fast goals to get Neb back in the game. I would like to see them control the ball more, but it always nice to beat Neb
 
Buffs won 3-0 today.

If I'm reading the tweets right, it looks like Shyra James may have earned a hat trick.

Starters were

 
If I'm reading the tweets right, it looks like Shyra James may have earned a hat trick.
She did. I was at the match. All three were scored in different ways and all were equally impressive. More later when I have time to collect my thoughts.

Hopefully three will be some highlights.

Also, the Buffs were about a combined ten inches away from scoring four more goals.
 
The Wyoming Goalie played a heck of a game. That could have easily been a 6 goal game by the buffs. Hansen had a couple nice saves one point blank. Really impressed with Jade Babcock Chi. I thought she really kept control of the ball in the midfield
 
All three of James' goals showed her talent a poise. The first one she took a cross with her back to the goal, turend and volleyed home the shot. On the second she was working hard with her teammates on the high press when Wyo was trying to play out of the back. Shayra got physical on the ball, took it and then hit a long range rocket from the top corner of the box. The final was a bullet of a header off a wonderfully struck cross from Rachel Rosen. Her near post run was really well timed.

In the midfield, the trio of Jenny Beyer, Jade Babcock-Chi and Ellen Jones was impressive. They were able to control the attack and tempo for good portions of the games.

Interestingly, up top with James were Kayleigh Webb and Hannah Duguid. To the best of my recollection, both played strictly the midfield last season. Duguid was repeatedly beating defenders 1 v 1 and thus created chances for herself. She probably wishes she could have a couple of her shots back.

Given the opponent was Wyo and that it was in the spring, it's hard to get a sense of how good the Buffs will be next season. Still, I left thinking that this group could be very good in the fall. And this is before a highly ranked class gets to Boulder.
 


Per the preview before last weekend's match (https://cubuffs.com/news/2022/4/15/soccer-two-spring-dates-left-for-buffs.aspx ), "The Buffs will close the season with the revamped Colorado Cup next Saturday in Boulder. Northern Colorado, Denver, Air Force and CU will compete against each other in 25-minute matches, starting at 11 a.m. MT."

(A nice way for the CO schools to keep the Cup going while not including the matches in the "real" spring schedule matches where playing some of the schools might create negative RPI implications for the Buffs.)
 
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