2023 NCAA Tournament thread- SOCCER (1st round match in College Station vs. Texas A & M; Friday, 11/10, 6:00 PM MT)

[AztecBuff]

(I will, fates willing, update this thread and thread title with more information as we learn who the future Buff opponent(s) is/ are.)

With the Buffs (13-4-3 overall; 5-3-3 in conference play) yesterday (Monday, 11/6) named as one of 64 teams selected for this season's NCAA Championship soccer tournament, wanted to start this thread to cover their (hopefully long) tourney run. 1st up is a match with the regional #8 seed Texas A & M Aggies (9-7-4, 4-3-3) this Friday, with the opening kick scheduled for 6:00 PM MT, with video coverage scheduled to be available via ESPN+. (More detail and link(s) available below.)

The tourney set-up (from https://www.ncaa.com/championships/soccer-women/d1/road-to-the-championship):

• Believe the tournament is set up with 4 regions, with 8 regional seeds hosting the 32 1st round matches over this Friday through Sunday.
• Then, next weekend 8 teams (assume mainly the highest seeds in their sub-brackets who won their 1st round matches), with all 2nd round matches on Friday, 11/17 and winners of those rounds will face off on Sunday, 11/19.
• The quarterfinals (regional finals) are then held at, again I assume the highest remaining seed of each region on either Friday 11/24 or Saturday 11/25.
• Finally, the Final 4 will be played, as often happens, in Cary, North Carolina. (It will be the 4th time in the last 6 years Cary will host.) The semi-finals will be held back to back on Friday, 12/1, and then the final/ Championship match finishes things off on Monday, 12/5

NCAA's interactive bracket (Usually gets filled in as the selection show progresses) - https://www.ncaa.com/brackets/soccer-women/d1/2023

NCAA's Championships homepage - https://www.ncaa.com/live-updates/soccer-women/d1/live-updates-2023-di-womens-soccer-championship

A schedule with live results etc. (I can't find one right now, but assume the NCAA will have something soon?.?) -

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Links with more info on the Buffs' opponent(s):

1st round (Texas A & M):
Roster - https://12thman.com/sports/womens-soccer/roster
Stats - https://12thman.com/sports/womens-soccer/stats
Schedule/ results for this season - https://12thman.com/sports/womens-soccer/schedule/2023
Their article after being selected to the tourney - https://12thman.com/news/2023/11/6/...-round-hosting-duties-at-ncaa-tournament.aspx
Their preview article for the match with the Buffs - Not available as I type this.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Media links (will be filled in as info becomes available):

1st Round vs. A & M:

Matches' notes -

Live stats -

Colorado vs Texas A&M DI Women's Soccer Game Summary - November 10th, 2023 | NCAA.com

Live scores from the Colorado and Texas A&M DI Women's Soccer game, including box scores, individual and team statistics and play-by-play.

www.ncaa.com

Live Audio (Assume it will be an Aggie "homer" type broadcast, but could still beat nothing for those who aren't able to watch the match on ESPN+.) - https://12thman.com/watch/?Live=5061

Live Video - IT looks like ALL 32 1st round matches are scheduled to be viewable via streams on ESPN+ for those who have a subscription to that service. The direct link ot the Buff- A & M match is https://www.espn.com/watch/player/_/id/08c2770a-cbbc-40f5-9e84-01d0758eaf77 , with it also I assume available on the ESPN app.

 

[AztecBuff]

Since I already posted and quoted the cubuffs.com article after the Buffs were selected yesterday, but since it also has to do with this thread here's a tweet with a link to that article -

 

[AztecBuff]

And, looking back for some regular season news, congrats to the 3 Buffs who earned All-Conference honors!




Direct link to article - https://cubuffs.com/news/2023/11/7/soccer-three-buffs-pick-up-all-conference-honors.aspx

"
Soccer November 07, 2023 Seth Pringle, Athletic Communications

Three Buffs Pick Up All-Conference Honors​

James, F. Leyba and Priest represent CU​

SAN FRANSICO – Colorado soccer had three players spread across the Pac-12 All-Conference honors announced by the league office on Tuesday.

Shyra James and Faith Leyba each earned All-Conference, while Leyba and Ava Priest were selected All-Freshman.

"We are very pleased that Shyra, Faith and Ava were recognized by the Pac-12 Coaches," head coach Danny Sanchez commented. "Shyra was the leading scorer and point-getter in the conference and is very deserving of First Team All-Conference status. Faith was a dominant back in the league and it is great the coaches recognized her in her first year. Ava finished tied for second in the league in assists and we are very excited about her future as a Buff."

James, a La Mesa, Calif., native, was a CU's lone First Team selection. She leads the Pac-12 with career-highs in goals (15) and points (32) this season. James ranks sixth in the nation in goals and 12th in the country in points as the Buffs enter the NCAA Tournament. The senior striker has two multi-goal games this season and scored in seven straight matches. Her 15 goals and 32 points are both second in a single season, trailing Nikki Marshall's 37 points and 17 goals in 2006. Currently, James ranks seventh in the NCAA with 0.79 goals per game and set a school record with 0.53 goals per game in her career. She moved into second all-time in career goals this season, becoming just the second Buff to hit 40 goals in a career.

Leyba, a Phoenix, Ariz., native, has had a strong rookie season on the backline for the Buffs. She has started all 20 matches and leads all of CU's field players in minutes played. Leyba leads all of Colorado's freshmen with her three goals on just five shots on goal. She has helped the Buffs backline record eight shutouts this season, marking the most since the 2020 season. Leyba ranked No. 6 in Top Drawer Soccer's Midseason Freshman 100.

Priest, a Boulder, Colo., native, played all over the pitch for the Buffs in her first season. She started 19 matches and has played in all 20. She scored her first career goal at New Mexico, becoming the youngest player in the NCAA to record a goal this season (17 years, 65 days). She leads all of CU's freshmen and was second on the team with 10 points. Priest handed out assists in three consecutive games from Sept. 28-Oct. 5 and is tied for second in the conference with six assists this season. Priest ranked No. 29 in the TDS Midseason Freshman 100 and earned the Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week on Sept. 12.

Colorado will travel to College Station, Texas, later this week for the NCAA Tournament. The Buffs will take on Texas A&M on Friday.
"

 

[MarkW]

Ava Priest should have gotten more recognition than the All-Freshman. She was invaluable to this team and made numerous critical contributions to the attack.

Faith Leyba was a rock in the back.

Both will be 4 year starters for the Buffs.

 

[Bmixer]

Eva surprised me the most. did not think she would do much this year but she is a baller and I enjoyed watching her play. I was surprised Nytes did not get any post season recognition.

 

[AztecBuff]

 

[AztecBuff]

Match day!

 

[NW Buff]

Let’s ****ing go!!!

 

[AztecBuff]

Tonight's match has just begun.

 

[AztecBuff]

It's a 0-1 A & M lead at the half after they scored with ~21 minutes left in the 1st half.

It's been a pretty even match, with the Buffs having most of the run of play in the 1st half of the half, but unfortunately TAM's goalie made at least a couple solid saves and the Buffs couldn't do much with the first 4 corners they had early. Then I'd say A & M came on strong the 2nd half of the half, but it wasn't too lopsided. (At the half, A & M has small advantages in both shots (5-6) and shots on goal (2-3), while CU leads in corners (5-3).)

 

[AztecBuff]

I have been watching most of the match, but wasn't watching when A & M scored. I hope this freak goal doesn't end the Buff's season.

 

[AztecBuff]

Ugh --- 0-1 is the final.

I'd say the team equated themselves very well, and played as well as A&M, but just weren't able to get the equalizer after the wierd goal I showed in my last post..

Wish the seniors (and of course the whole team) nothing but the best going forwards in their lives.

 

[AztecBuff]

Wow - Today saw the majority of the 1st round matches being played ( believe 21 out of 32 or so). Up until just now the regional seeded teams had won every match (including unfortunately the Aggies) but that just changed in a BIG way. For the 2nd time in 3 years the 2022 defending champion UCLA Bruins, seeded #1 this year and #2 in 2021, have lost to the UC-Irvine Anteaters 1-0 in the 1st round. A few things about the match:

• The 2 losses to UCI in the tournament have been the ONLY home losses the Bruins have suffered in 3 full seasons.
• This season, UC-Irvine was 1 game over .500, and had to win their conference tournament to earn a tourney berth as they had NO chance of earning an at-large berth. (Their RPI is 151.)
• The Anteaters scored late in the match (believe with around 5 minutes left) on a header off the free kick. Even more impressive about that was that they did this shorthanded after one of their players got shown a red card with around 15 minutes left after earning her 2nd yellow.
• I believe the announcer said that the Anteater who scored tonight was the same player who scored to give them the 1-0 upset in 2021.

 

[AztecBuff]

 

[AztecBuff]

Article after last night's tough loss -




Direct link - https://cubuffs.com/news/2023/11/10/soccer-coloardos-season-comes-to-a-close-at-texas-am.aspx

"
COLLEGE STATION, Texas – An unfortunate bounce was the catalyst for Texas A&M and ended Colorado's season in the first round of the NCAA Tournament at Ellis Field on Friday.

Colorado finishes the season 13-5-3 after returning to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since the 2020 season.

Friday's conditions worsened as the night went on as the two teams played in a constant mist. Colorado led in shots on goal 5-4 and out-chanced the Aggies 3-1 in the second half, but couldn't come up with the equalizer to force overtime.

"First off, congratulations to Texas A&M for advancing," head coach Danny Sanchez commented after the match. "I told the team [after the game] that this is a team of great teammates and our success this year was because of great teammates and how much everybody cares for each other. I told them that's what we're choosing to focus on. It hurts for the players who don't get another opportunity, but we have zero to hang our heads about. Tonight's performance was absolutely fantastic. It was tough conditions on the road in a tough environment. We did not back down from the challenge at all. It just wasn't our night."

Senior Shyra James and freshman Hope Leyba led the Buffs in shots with three apiece. Sophomore Juliauna Hayward accounted for two of CU's five shots on target. Sophomore Jordan Nytes made three saves on the night.

Texas A&M (10-7-4) advances to the second round and will play No. 1 Florida State. Mia Pante was credited the goal in the 22nd minute.
...

"When you have two evenly matched teams in the NCAA Tournament it's going to be the smallest of margins," Sanchez added. "Once we gave up the goal, especially the second half, I thought we really ramped up our play. Our tackling in the back, Jordie in goal was fantastic and kept us in the game when it got stretched. It just didn't fall our way tonight. But it doesn't take away from the quality of this team and the quality of people in this program."

The Buffs got a corner chance in the 88th minute and threw all 10 field players in the box but couldn't gain possession. The Aggies cleared the ball upfield and killed the game off.

Notes
Colorado falls to 10-13-1 all-time in the NCAA Tournament…CU drops to 2-18-2 all-time against Texas A&M…CU finished with seven corner kicks…James wraps up her CU career second in career goals (40) and third in points (86)…She holds the school record for goals per game, finishing with 0.53…Colorado's 13 wins tied for the most since the 2018 season (13-4-3)…Friday was just CU's second road loss of the season finishing 5-2-2 away from Boulder.

Quotes
Head Coach Danny Sanchez
On CU's defensive effort
"We really limited [Texas A&M]. Jordie dealt with what she had to, but we really limited their dangerous players. I thought we played really well. That's all you can hope for. This time of the year there's going to be small margins. We played really well and we're really proud of this team."
"

Box score -

Soccer vs Texas A&M on 11/10/2023 - Box Score - University of Colorado Athletics

The official box score of Soccer vs Texas A&M on 11/10/2023

cubuffs.com

 

[Bmixer]

rough way to lose but the team played well this year and even though Faith has to be gutted about that goal, I like the freshman and see big things ahead. What a gut wrenching way to lose a game

 

[MarkW]

That was a very unfortunate way to have the season come to an end. Faith Leyba has been solid on the back line all season so of course she's going to beat the attacker to the ball and clear it.