Historic season ends for CU Buffs soccer in Sweet 16 loss at Michigan State

Reagan Kotschau can t say her return to Colorado worked out perfectly because in a perfect world Kotschau and her Buffaloes teammates would still be playing But the season eventually ends for all but one band and time absolutely caught up with the Colorado women s soccer group Related Articles Sweet opportunity a moment to savor for focused CU Buffs soccer Grading The Week Broncos Avs Wil Lutz CU soccer DU soccer giving Denver fans reasons to be thankful DU Pioneers advance in NCAA men s soccer tournament with shutout win over UC Irvine CU Buffs soccer advances to Sweet with dominant win against Xavier Two of nation s top attacks collide as CU Buffs soccer meets Xavier in NCAA Tournament The Buffaloes historic season ended in the NCAA Tournament Sweet as CU suffered a - defeat at Michigan State on Sunday It was the third Sweet berth in project history but the Buffs season ends one step shy of their first Elite Eight berth CU s season ends having compiled association records for wins - - goals assists and points All three of the previous records for goals assists and points were held by the gang Along the way Hope Leyba set the season goal-scoring record with and Jordan Nytes collected her third Big Conference Goalkeeper of the Year award while current CU s career shutout record with It was definitely an ideal situation transferring back and making it this far in the tournament disclosed Kotschau a former Broomfield High standout who played her first two collegiate seasons at Washington State I would ve loved to get to the Elite Eight and see how far we could ve gone after that I would say it s kind of a bittersweet ending I m really proud of this organization and we made a super-far run in the tournament It s just disappointing how it ended Kotschau was the hero of CU s first-round win against Utah Valley scoring on a header off a long institution pass from Ava Priest and the Buffs scored the second-most goals in unit history in an NCAA Tournament challenge in a - win against Xavier in the second round The Buffs though were put on their heels out of the gate as particular sharp passes from Michigan State set up a clear chance that Bella Najera converted to give the Spartans a - lead just seconds into the match CU settled in and drew even in the rd minute when a Priest corner kick led to a left-footed liner from Faith Leyba The tally originally was credited to Lexi Meyer who appeared as if she might have deflected Leyba s strike but instead Leyba was credited with her career-high fourth goal of the season The - draw held through halftime but Najera and the Spartans again struck early in the half Michigan State leading scorer Kennedy Bell drew a foul against CU defender Jordan Whiteaker just inside the penalty box Najera converted the ensuing penalty kick giving the Spartans a - lead that held the rest of the way Michigan State which reached the Elite Eight for the first time outshot the Buffs - with a - advantage in shots on goal I m really proud of how they responded after giving up that early goal CU head coach Danny Sanchez explained We didn t hang our heads We changed things up and we started playing well A deserved goal to get to - at halftime The second half was a match that could ve gone either way Unfortunately it didn t fall for us in the present day but it doesn t take away from the season As I advised the club after the match the further you go the more it hurts And that s OK There s teams in the country that would love to have the opportunity to play in this match It didn t go our way currently but we re excited for the future of Buffs soccer Michigan State Spartans CU Buffs women s soccer Colorado Michigan State Goals Michigan State Najera Beerworth st minute Najera PK th minute Colorado F Leyba Priest rd minute Goalies Min -goals allowed-saves Colorado Nytes - - Michigan State Henning - -