Colorado University Athletics
Danica Evans
Photo by: Pro-Motion Photography
The Buffs Have Been Unlucky And That's Bound To Reverse Soon
September 02, 2016 | Soccer
BOULDER - As the Buffaloes wrapped up their third straight one-goal loss, the frustration was visible among the players and coaches on Thursday evening. Not only was it the third straight one-goal loss, it was the fourth straight match the Buffs left a lot of goals on the field, leaving the team and its fans wondering when will all of these shots start finding the net.
Over the past four matches, CU has outshot its opponents 79-52, yet the team has been outscored 6-4. There's a term for that in soccer: unlucky.
The Buffs are not playing bad soccer by any way you look at it. They are, with the exception of the second half of the Missouri match, dominating possession and getting quality scoring chances. The goals just aren't finding the net.
This isn't that unheard of and many teams have recovered from stretches like this to go on to great things. In 2007, CU went four consecutive matches without scoring a goal early in the season and didn't break that scoring drought until overtime of the fifth match when the Buffs finally found the net with an overtime winner against Drake. It took the team 27 shots to finally score a goal in that match. And yet, the team didn't fully break its run of bad luck for another three matches after edging Wyoming 2-0 and falling 1-0 to Texas Tech after the 1-0 overtime win over Drake. The slump finally truly ended with a 4-0 win over Nebraska in a match that the Buffs were outshot 16-13 (lucky?). That 4-0 win snapped a stretch of seven matches that CU scored a total of three goals in. CU recovered from that 2-3-2 stretch to finish 10-8-4 and reach the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
Another example is the 2005 season when CU started 1-3-2 in its first six matches, edging Vanderbilt 2-1 in the opener before going winless over the next five matches and scoring just three goals in that span. The Buffs finished 2005 second in the Big 12 and also reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
The 2016 squad has plenty of players who know how to score. Danica Evans has scored 18 goals in her collegiate career. Sarah Kinzner scored twice in five matches in last year's CONCACAF U-20 Championships for Canada and has scored four in international competition in recent years. Emily Bruder had four goals with the United States U-18 Women's National Team in 2013 and scored seven times at North Carolina before transferring to Boulder this season. Taylor Kornieck scored 54 times last year as a senior in high school.
While the team has certainly been unlucky recently, head coach Danny Sanchez realizes there are things to work on to help turn the luck around.
"I think [in Thursday's loss] you guys saw that we were taking it to them for the majority of the game, but you don't get points for that," Sanchez said. "We have to be better in the final third and we have to be clean in the back. It's as simple as it sounds."
The point is: don't hit the panic button. The goals will come. Colorado is playing good soccer and has just hit an unlucky stretch. Perhaps Sunday's matchup with Drexel will mark the beginning of a new winning streak. The Dragons enter the weekend with a 3-1-0 record, but the Buffs will have an extra day of rest compared to Drexel as the Dragons face Northern Colorado on Friday night.
"I think every game for us is a need to get a positive result," Sanchez said Thursday. "I think we have a strong, resilient group that isn't going to point fingers, but look at themselves, as I just saw in their eyes. Once again, like I told them on Sunday [after the loss at Missouri], [when] you play a game like this, the good thing with our sport, two or three days [later], you've got another game, another opportunity to redeem yourselves. So we've got to look at this, but we've got to move on. We've got to get ready for Sunday."
Over the past four matches, CU has outshot its opponents 79-52, yet the team has been outscored 6-4. There's a term for that in soccer: unlucky.
The Buffs are not playing bad soccer by any way you look at it. They are, with the exception of the second half of the Missouri match, dominating possession and getting quality scoring chances. The goals just aren't finding the net.
This isn't that unheard of and many teams have recovered from stretches like this to go on to great things. In 2007, CU went four consecutive matches without scoring a goal early in the season and didn't break that scoring drought until overtime of the fifth match when the Buffs finally found the net with an overtime winner against Drake. It took the team 27 shots to finally score a goal in that match. And yet, the team didn't fully break its run of bad luck for another three matches after edging Wyoming 2-0 and falling 1-0 to Texas Tech after the 1-0 overtime win over Drake. The slump finally truly ended with a 4-0 win over Nebraska in a match that the Buffs were outshot 16-13 (lucky?). That 4-0 win snapped a stretch of seven matches that CU scored a total of three goals in. CU recovered from that 2-3-2 stretch to finish 10-8-4 and reach the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
Another example is the 2005 season when CU started 1-3-2 in its first six matches, edging Vanderbilt 2-1 in the opener before going winless over the next five matches and scoring just three goals in that span. The Buffs finished 2005 second in the Big 12 and also reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
The 2016 squad has plenty of players who know how to score. Danica Evans has scored 18 goals in her collegiate career. Sarah Kinzner scored twice in five matches in last year's CONCACAF U-20 Championships for Canada and has scored four in international competition in recent years. Emily Bruder had four goals with the United States U-18 Women's National Team in 2013 and scored seven times at North Carolina before transferring to Boulder this season. Taylor Kornieck scored 54 times last year as a senior in high school.
While the team has certainly been unlucky recently, head coach Danny Sanchez realizes there are things to work on to help turn the luck around.
"I think [in Thursday's loss] you guys saw that we were taking it to them for the majority of the game, but you don't get points for that," Sanchez said. "We have to be better in the final third and we have to be clean in the back. It's as simple as it sounds."
The point is: don't hit the panic button. The goals will come. Colorado is playing good soccer and has just hit an unlucky stretch. Perhaps Sunday's matchup with Drexel will mark the beginning of a new winning streak. The Dragons enter the weekend with a 3-1-0 record, but the Buffs will have an extra day of rest compared to Drexel as the Dragons face Northern Colorado on Friday night.
"I think every game for us is a need to get a positive result," Sanchez said Thursday. "I think we have a strong, resilient group that isn't going to point fingers, but look at themselves, as I just saw in their eyes. Once again, like I told them on Sunday [after the loss at Missouri], [when] you play a game like this, the good thing with our sport, two or three days [later], you've got another game, another opportunity to redeem yourselves. So we've got to look at this, but we've got to move on. We've got to get ready for Sunday."
Players Mentioned
Monday, April 06
Tuesday, November 25
Thursday, November 20
Thursday, November 20