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.
1st, just a quick look back with some summary numbers from this past season:
Record - 12-5-5 overall; 4-2-5 in the regular season in their 1st season back in the Big 12, which equaled them ending up in 9th place in the standings ( https://big12sports.com/standings.aspx?path=soc) with 17 points.
Big 12 Tournament - Unlike the Pac 12, the Big 12 does have a conference tourney. The Buffs were the #9 seed, and won their 1st round match over #8 Utah before losing to @1 seed TCU. (The Horned Frogs ended up getting upset in the final 1-0, losing to the #6 seed KU Jayhawks.)
NCAA Tournament - The Buffs had to go on the road to Winston-Salem. 1st off they upset regional #7 seed Georgia 3-2. Then, facing regional host and #2 regional seed and #3 ranked Wake Forest, the Buffs fell 1-3. (As I type this, Wake Forest has advanced all the way to the (all ACC) Final 4, where they're scheduled to face to face #3 in their region Stanford in their sem match Friday 12/6, with the winner facing off against the winner of Duke - North Carolina semi, with the final then on Monday, 12/9.)
The team's ratings from the sources I could find:
RPI - Before the NCAA Tournament began (report dated 11/10), the Buffs had a #55 RPI (per https://www.ncaa.com/rankings/soccer-women/d1/ncaa-womens-soccer-rpi)
KPI (available through a query at https://faktorsports.com/),- Updated through 11/18 as I type this (but based on the record for CU noted may not include their 1st round NCAA tourney win), the Buffs' KPI was #52.
Massey (https://masseyratings.com/csocw/ncaa-d1/ratings) - #46 (as of matches played through 11/28, so unlike RPI includes NCAA tourney matches to date.)
Then, a few things I wanted to note:
1st, just a quick look back with some summary numbers from this past season:
Record - 12-5-5 overall; 4-2-5 in the regular season in their 1st season back in the Big 12, which equaled them ending up in 9th place in the standings ( https://big12sports.com/standings.aspx?path=soc) with 17 points.
Big 12 Tournament - Unlike the Pac 12, the Big 12 does have a conference tourney. The Buffs were the #9 seed, and won their 1st round match over #8 Utah before losing to @1 seed TCU. (The Horned Frogs ended up getting upset in the final 1-0, losing to the #6 seed KU Jayhawks.)
NCAA Tournament - The Buffs had to go on the road to Winston-Salem. 1st off they upset regional #7 seed Georgia 3-2. Then, facing regional host and #2 regional seed and #3 ranked Wake Forest, the Buffs fell 1-3. (As I type this, Wake Forest has advanced all the way to the (all ACC) Final 4, where they're scheduled to face to face #3 in their region Stanford in their sem match Friday 12/6, with the winner facing off against the winner of Duke - North Carolina semi, with the final then on Monday, 12/9.)
The team's ratings from the sources I could find:
RPI - Before the NCAA Tournament began (report dated 11/10), the Buffs had a #55 RPI (per https://www.ncaa.com/rankings/soccer-women/d1/ncaa-womens-soccer-rpi)
KPI (available through a query at https://faktorsports.com/),- Updated through 11/18 as I type this (but based on the record for CU noted may not include their 1st round NCAA tourney win), the Buffs' KPI was #52.
Massey (https://masseyratings.com/csocw/ncaa-d1/ratings) - #46 (as of matches played through 11/28, so unlike RPI includes NCAA tourney matches to date.)
Then, a few things I wanted to note:
- The BIG change the NCAA voted on that begins next (2025/26) academic year for ALL sports is that maximum roster numbers have I believe been set for every sport, and scholarship maximums have been increased so that a school MAY (but doesn't have to) issue full scholarships to all student-athletes on their roster. Specifically related to soccer:
- Max rosters starting next academic year is 28 for soccer. (The Buffs only had 24 on this season's roster, but 2023 had 28 so would have been at the limit. From one twitter account that often shows up on my feed, quite a few student-athletes who had verbal commits at different schools (but not CU) had their offers pulled because the schools were going to be over the roster limit.)
- The scholarship limit of 28 is a BIG increase from this and prior years, which was 14. I did look quick, and partial scholarships are still allowed next academic year. (Of course, no school HAS to increase their scholarship numbers (although Title IX still applies), so this may create more of a "have and have not" disperity between schools based on who has the resouces and motivation to compete for championships in various Olympic sports they choose to prioritize.)
- I'd already reported it in the signing news thread, but also wanted to note here that the team announced an (initial) 5 student-athlete frosh class for the coming season. The article is at https://cubuffs.com/news/2024/11/14/soccer-sanchez-buffs-add-five-for-2025 .
- With that announcement, and with 9 recognized on this past season's Senior Day, looks like there may be room for the team to add up to 8*** more student-athletes, either through additional froshies or from the transfer portal (which Coach Sanchez and company have had solid success in the past). (***I'm calculating (GUESSING) this from 28 new roster limit - 24 in this past seasons roster + 9 recognized at senior days - 5 frosh already announced.)
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