Buffaloes soccer reaches NCAA Tournament

The Colorado Buffaloes women’s soccer team has reached yet another NCAA Tournament. This will be their 12th appearance in school history and the sixth in Danny Sanchez’s nine years as skipper.

The Buffs finished the season with 9 wins, 5 losses and 2 draws. They were likely to miss the tournament until a late winning streak catapulted them into the field of 48. They went unbeaten in their final four games with wins over Oregon, #17 Arizona State and Utah.

Finishing fifth in the Pac-12 was quite enough, even in the toughest conference in the sport. In addition to knocking off #10 California, they also had non-conference wins over #14 Utah State and Denver, winners of the Summit League.

The Buffs will next play on April 27 in Greensboro, North Carolina. Their first round matchup is against the South Alabama Jaguars, champions of the Sun Belt Conference. If the Buffs were to advance — and they probably should because they’re the better team — they would move on to play #10 Oklahoma State.

Colorado is led by junior defender Hannah Sharts, the captain of a defense that has allowed just one goal in their last four matches. The offense is led by freshman Shyra James and senior Shanade Hopcroft, the former of whom looks like a star in the making, while the latter has starred as of late.