Matches Thread - SOCCER on the road vs. Cincinnati (Thursday, 10/17/24, 5:00 PM MT) and (RV) West Virginia (Sunday, 11:00 AM MT)

[AztecBuff]

In what I assume must be one of the Big 12's longest road trips, Buff SOCCER (10-2-3, 4-1-3 ) plays its last 2 regular season road matches of the year this week. 1st off they head to the Midwest to play the Cincinnati Bearcats (UC;6-7-2, 2-5-1), and then finish off playing the receiving votes (RV) West Virginia Mountaineers (WVU; 10-3-2, 6-1-1). (The last match of the regular season is next Friday night hosting the Utes.)

Getting results whenever and where ever they can is now VITAL for the team, as they're currently (just) in line for a 1st round bye at the upcoming Big 12 tournament as they sit in 4th place, just 1 point ahead of OK State and BYU and 2 points ahead of Arizona. (CU is 4 points behind the 3rd place Mountaineers, and 5 behind the 2 sides tied for 1st place, TCU and TX Tech. The full table can be viewed at https://big12sports.com/standings.aspx?path=soc.)

Note - As of yesterday, the NCAA's official RPI ratings (https://www.ncaa.com/rankings/soccer-women/d1/ncaa-womens-soccer-rpi ) has the Buffs at #45, UC is #123 and WVU at #24.

As with the other home matches so far this season, looks like the stream for this week's match will be available for those with a premium ($) ESPN+ subscription. (See more details and links near the bottom of this post.)

Go Buffs!!!
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More on the opponents -

Cincinnati :
Roster - https://gobearcats.com/sports/womens-soccer/roster
Stats - https://gobearcats.com/documents/2024/10/8/soccer_game_14.pdf
Schedule/ results - https://gobearcats.com/sports/womens-soccer/schedule
Their preview article for the match with the Buffs - Not available as I type this.

West Virginia :
Roster - https://wvusports.com/sports/womens-soccer/roster
Stats - https://wvusports.com/sports/womens-soccer/stats
Schedule/ results - https://wvusports.com/sports/womens-soccer/schedule
Their preview article for the match with the Buffs - Not available as I type this.
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Media links:

Link to links to Live stats for both matches - https://www.statbroadcast.com/events/statbroadcast.php?t=1&gid=colo . Direct links for the matches:
Cincinnati -
WVU - https://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=534587

Live Video: Both matches are scheduled to be provided through the premium ($) ESPN+ subscription service, available either on the ESPN app or at:
Cincinnati - https://www.espn.com/espnplus/player/_/id/db296e4e-35b7-461b-be56-bab15ce55535
WVU - https://www.espn.com/espnplus/player/_/id/c7187880-4dba-4dcf-a0b1-58d55aadee23

Match notes (If blank below, they weren't available as I type this.) :
Cincinnati -
WVU -

 

[MarkW]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1846689076717801533

 

[AztecBuff]

Match day!

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1846904590144279002

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Preview for this evening's match (And congrats to Ms. Nytes for another weekly award!)- https://cubuffs.com/news/2024/10/16...ffs-jet-off-on-final-regular-season-road-trip

"

Nytes Picks Up Fourth Weekly Honor, Buffs Jet off on Final Regular-Season Road Trip​

Colorado opens the week at Cincinnati

By: Seth Pringle, Athletic Communications

IRVING, Texas — Colorado goalkeeper Jordan Nytes recorded 11 saves and her ninth shutout of the season last week on her way to earning her fourth Big 12 Goalkeeper of the Week honor of the season the league announced on Wednesday.

Nytes is just the second keeper to earn the honor four times in a season, matching Iowa State's Jordan Silkowitz in 2020.

The weekly honor is Nytes' sixth of her career, having collected two as a freshman at Oklahoma State in 2022. Overall, it marks her eighth weekly conference award, earning two Pac-12 Goalkeeper of the Week honors last season.

The native of Centennial, Colo., made seven saves in the Buffs' 1-1 draw last Thursday at Texas Tech. She followed up Thursday's performance with four more saves and preserving the shutout in CU's 0-0 scoreless draw against UCF. Nytes posted a .917 save % last week to improve to .853 on the season.

Nytes has helped captain Colorado to 10 wins this season. Her nine total shutouts this season rank second in the Big 12 and ninth in the NCAA. Her nine clean sheets are now tied for the third most in a season by a CU keeper. Her 17 total shutouts at CU are good for fifth in program history.

Since rejoining the conference, Nytes has collected all four of CU's Big 12 weekly honors. It is the 35th Big 12 honor collected by the Buffs and the fourth Goalkeeper of the Week award. Before Nytes, the last CU soccer player to earn a Big 12 weekly award was Annie Brunner's Newcomer of the Week honor on Nov. 2, 2010.

The Goalkeeper of the Week award started in the 2020 season. Goalkeepers were previously honored as Defensive Player of the Week.

Colorado set for First Visit to Cincinnati
Colorado (10-2-3, 4-1-3 Big 12) opens its final regular-season road trip with its first trip to the Queen City.

The Buffs remain unbeaten on the road this season, boasting a 4-0-1 record away from Prentup Field.

CU earned two consecutive draws against Texas Tech and UCF last week and remained in the No. 4 seed of the Big 12 standings with three regular-season games remaining. The top four seeds in the conference earn a first-round bye to start the Big 12 Tournament.

"We're right on the bubble with a lot of other teams," head coach Danny Sanchez expressed. "I think the league is maybe undervalued a little bit because we don't have that top 10 RPI, but you have a ton of teams between 20 and 50. I think everybody's got a lot to play for. Obviously, Cincinnati wants to get to the Big 12 Tournament, and I think they will at the end of the day, but I think for us, if we keep winning down the stretch, we'll secure that top-four seed and a bye.

"Having that kind of second season takes some pressure off these last matches. But, you know, we need to get results. We need to get a result Thursday and then obviously at West Virginia on Sunday."

Colorado's offense has stalled out a bit of late, recording just five goals in the last six matches despite totaling double-digit shots in five of the six games. The last time the Buffs totaled more than one goal in a match was on the road in their 2-1 win over then No. 12 Oklahoma State.

"We're just not scoring goals," Sanchez noted. "I don't think it's more complicated than that. We're not giving up many chances, and when we do, we feel we have the best goalkeeper in the league. She's making one or two big saves every match. But there are fine margins in the league. We've only scored two goals in one conference game, but it's not from a lack of creating opportunities. We created plenty of opportunities where it just didn't happen. We have to be able to go on the road and score goals."

The Buffs are 2-0-0 all-time against the Bearcats but haven't met since a 1-0 win in Boulder on Sept. 4, 2015.

Cincinnati (6-7-2, 2-5-1 Big 12) occupies the 12th spot in the Big 12 standings and hopes to hang on for a berth to the Big 12 Tournament. UC has faired well on its home turf, owning a 5-2-1 record at Gettler Stadium. The Bearcats put up four goals to beat Houston 4-1 in their last home contest.

Thursday's Kickoff is set for 5 p.m. MT on ESPN+.
"

 

[MarkW]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1847080413094670588