Colorado University Athletics
Thursday, October 19
Boulder, Colo.
3:00 PM
Colorado
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Arizona State
Photo by: Grey Gibbs
Rasmussen Thriving After Transferring Home For Senior Season
October 17, 2017 | Soccer
BOULDER – It took three years to make the move, but Becca Rasmussen finally returned to her home state for her senior year of college in 2017. After spending three seasons at the University of Georgia, the native of Golden, Colorado, transferred to the University of Colorado prior to the spring semester in 2017.
"It was a combination of things, but I really was homesick and I missed having that support system from my family, having them be able to come to all of my games," Rasmussen said. "And Colorado is such a great state. There's so much to do and see. I missed the outdooriness of Colorado and that was also important."
The decision was not an easy one. Rasmussen contemplated transferring home during her sophomore season, but after Georgia made a coaching change, she decided to stick it out one more year and see if her homesickness improved. She finally went through with the transfer following her 2016 junior season.
"At the end of [the junior season], it hits you," Rasmussen said. "This is your senior year, this is the last year, this is the time to go home. I'd been wanting to do it."
Her family certainly played a big role in her desire to finish her college career at home as she is close with them. She currently lives on campus with her brother Charles, who is a year older and also a student at CU. She is now the third of the three Rasmussen children to attend the University of Colorado as her older sister Rachel also graduated from CU.
"I'm very close with my brother, especially," Rasmussen said. "We're very similar in age—he's just a year older than me. Growing up, we've always been there for each other; he's my best friend. Coming back and being able to live with him was really exciting. My sister is a little bit older. She's graduated and is working. She's 25, but we also have a great relationship. I just think our family dynamics is great. We all support each other and are there for each other, care for each other."
Head coach Danny Sanchez wishes he had Rasmussen for four seasons and recruited her hard out of high school. But Rasmussen committed to Georgia after Sanchez's first season in Boulder and the Buffs were still a developing program at the time.
While she has developed many skills in college, he believes she could have developed even further had she been with the Buffs her entire career.
"She's very dynamic, she's very good on the dribble, and I think if she was a player that was with us for four years, she would have more room for growth," Sanchez said. "But obviously, we've only had her for two semesters. But within even the two semesters, I think she's grown a lot as a player and added a lot to her game. I think she has a future of playing after she's done in college."
When the ball is at Rasmussen's feet, she makes things happen. She leads CU with five assists so far this season, while appearing in all 15 matches and making 13 starts. In her three seasons at Georgia, she had a total of two goals and four assists. The playmaking ability that has exploded this season was key in a Pac-12 win at Washington State on Sept. 28. She assisted on Marty Puketapu's goal in the 30th minute and then her efforts in the box in the 52nd minute led to an own goal by the Cougars in the 2-0 victory.
"She takes a lot of pressure off us because when she wins the ball, even if we don't get anything out of it, she moves the ball up the field for us and the other teams have to respect her pace and her dribbling ability," Sanchez said. "It relieves the pressure on our backs."
Few players have her combination of quickness, instincts, dribbling and overall athletic abilities. Sanchez compares parts of her game to Madi Krauser, a 2015 Buffs graduate, who played in the top professional league in France last season.
"She's pretty unique," Sanchez said of Rasmussen. "Madi Krauser had a lot of ability to dribble at people, but I think Becca is better in tight spaces and better at creating something out of nothing. She's pretty unique in that sense of things."
Like Krauser, Rasmussen hopes to continue to play professionally after graduating from CU.
"That's the goal," Rasmussen said of playing professionally. "I don't really have an idea if I want to stay here [in the U.S.] or go overseas. I'm just focusing on the season right now and will figure everything out afterwards."
Academics are also very important to Rasmussen, who has a 3.73 GPA and is majoring in neuroscience at CU. She plans on continuing her education after her playing career ends and earning either a master's degree or PhD.
Rasmussen had already taken summer credit hours at CU prior to making the decision to transfer, which will give her enough credits to graduate in May.
"We're just really excited that she decided to come back for her last year," Sanchez said. "I know it's a big decision to leave a school that you've been at for over three years [she enrolled a semester early in high school]. She wanted to be a part of our program and she wanted to graduate from the University of Colorado and we're really excited that she came back and decided to be a part of the team."
WEEKEND PREVIEW
CU plays its final two home matches of the season this week, hosting Arizona State at 3 p.m. on Thursday, and Arizona at 1 p.m. on Sunday.
Thursday's match against ASU will be the annual Kick Out Cancer match, supporting the fight against cancer. The first 250 fans will receive pink CU socks. Fans purchasing a ticket to the match will also receive a free ticket to CU's men's basketball exhibition against Colorado School of Mines on Oct. 30.
Sunday's match, presented by State Farm, against the Wildcats, is Senior Day, honoring the four graduating seniors for the Buffs, along with their senior student manager and senior student athletic trainer. It will also be the annual Kick-Or-Treat match with free candy for kids in costumes.
ARIZONA STATE PREVIEW
The Sun Devils enter Thursday with a 4-8-2 overall mark, and 1-4-1 in the Pac-12. Junior Jemma Purfield leads them with four goals and three assists for 11 points. Four other players have two goals each. Currently the ASU offense ranked 11th in the Pac-12 in goal per game (1.07), while the team's 1.71 goals-against average ranks last.
ARIZONA PREVIEW
The Wildcats enter the weekend 6-4-3 overall, including 3-2-1 in the Pac-12. They have earned conference wins over Oregon, Oregon State and No. 11 Cal. They have also played perhaps the toughest schedule in the conference, evidenced by their No. 21 ranking in the latest RPI.
Senior Gabi Stoian leads Arizona with three goals scored, while Cali Crisler has a team-high six assists. The Wildcats are 10th in the Pac-21 in goals per game (1.15), but rank fifth defensively with a 0.72 GAA, highlighted by the play of goalkeeper Lainey Burdett, who has played every minute in goal this season and has a .836 save percentage.
"It was a combination of things, but I really was homesick and I missed having that support system from my family, having them be able to come to all of my games," Rasmussen said. "And Colorado is such a great state. There's so much to do and see. I missed the outdooriness of Colorado and that was also important."
The decision was not an easy one. Rasmussen contemplated transferring home during her sophomore season, but after Georgia made a coaching change, she decided to stick it out one more year and see if her homesickness improved. She finally went through with the transfer following her 2016 junior season.
"At the end of [the junior season], it hits you," Rasmussen said. "This is your senior year, this is the last year, this is the time to go home. I'd been wanting to do it."
Her family certainly played a big role in her desire to finish her college career at home as she is close with them. She currently lives on campus with her brother Charles, who is a year older and also a student at CU. She is now the third of the three Rasmussen children to attend the University of Colorado as her older sister Rachel also graduated from CU.
"I'm very close with my brother, especially," Rasmussen said. "We're very similar in age—he's just a year older than me. Growing up, we've always been there for each other; he's my best friend. Coming back and being able to live with him was really exciting. My sister is a little bit older. She's graduated and is working. She's 25, but we also have a great relationship. I just think our family dynamics is great. We all support each other and are there for each other, care for each other."
Head coach Danny Sanchez wishes he had Rasmussen for four seasons and recruited her hard out of high school. But Rasmussen committed to Georgia after Sanchez's first season in Boulder and the Buffs were still a developing program at the time.
While she has developed many skills in college, he believes she could have developed even further had she been with the Buffs her entire career.
"She's very dynamic, she's very good on the dribble, and I think if she was a player that was with us for four years, she would have more room for growth," Sanchez said. "But obviously, we've only had her for two semesters. But within even the two semesters, I think she's grown a lot as a player and added a lot to her game. I think she has a future of playing after she's done in college."
When the ball is at Rasmussen's feet, she makes things happen. She leads CU with five assists so far this season, while appearing in all 15 matches and making 13 starts. In her three seasons at Georgia, she had a total of two goals and four assists. The playmaking ability that has exploded this season was key in a Pac-12 win at Washington State on Sept. 28. She assisted on Marty Puketapu's goal in the 30th minute and then her efforts in the box in the 52nd minute led to an own goal by the Cougars in the 2-0 victory.
"She takes a lot of pressure off us because when she wins the ball, even if we don't get anything out of it, she moves the ball up the field for us and the other teams have to respect her pace and her dribbling ability," Sanchez said. "It relieves the pressure on our backs."
Few players have her combination of quickness, instincts, dribbling and overall athletic abilities. Sanchez compares parts of her game to Madi Krauser, a 2015 Buffs graduate, who played in the top professional league in France last season.
"She's pretty unique," Sanchez said of Rasmussen. "Madi Krauser had a lot of ability to dribble at people, but I think Becca is better in tight spaces and better at creating something out of nothing. She's pretty unique in that sense of things."
Like Krauser, Rasmussen hopes to continue to play professionally after graduating from CU.
"That's the goal," Rasmussen said of playing professionally. "I don't really have an idea if I want to stay here [in the U.S.] or go overseas. I'm just focusing on the season right now and will figure everything out afterwards."
Academics are also very important to Rasmussen, who has a 3.73 GPA and is majoring in neuroscience at CU. She plans on continuing her education after her playing career ends and earning either a master's degree or PhD.
Rasmussen had already taken summer credit hours at CU prior to making the decision to transfer, which will give her enough credits to graduate in May.
"We're just really excited that she decided to come back for her last year," Sanchez said. "I know it's a big decision to leave a school that you've been at for over three years [she enrolled a semester early in high school]. She wanted to be a part of our program and she wanted to graduate from the University of Colorado and we're really excited that she came back and decided to be a part of the team."
WEEKEND PREVIEW
CU plays its final two home matches of the season this week, hosting Arizona State at 3 p.m. on Thursday, and Arizona at 1 p.m. on Sunday.
Thursday's match against ASU will be the annual Kick Out Cancer match, supporting the fight against cancer. The first 250 fans will receive pink CU socks. Fans purchasing a ticket to the match will also receive a free ticket to CU's men's basketball exhibition against Colorado School of Mines on Oct. 30.
Sunday's match, presented by State Farm, against the Wildcats, is Senior Day, honoring the four graduating seniors for the Buffs, along with their senior student manager and senior student athletic trainer. It will also be the annual Kick-Or-Treat match with free candy for kids in costumes.
ARIZONA STATE PREVIEW
The Sun Devils enter Thursday with a 4-8-2 overall mark, and 1-4-1 in the Pac-12. Junior Jemma Purfield leads them with four goals and three assists for 11 points. Four other players have two goals each. Currently the ASU offense ranked 11th in the Pac-12 in goal per game (1.07), while the team's 1.71 goals-against average ranks last.
ARIZONA PREVIEW
The Wildcats enter the weekend 6-4-3 overall, including 3-2-1 in the Pac-12. They have earned conference wins over Oregon, Oregon State and No. 11 Cal. They have also played perhaps the toughest schedule in the conference, evidenced by their No. 21 ranking in the latest RPI.
Senior Gabi Stoian leads Arizona with three goals scored, while Cali Crisler has a team-high six assists. The Wildcats are 10th in the Pac-21 in goals per game (1.15), but rank fifth defensively with a 0.72 GAA, highlighted by the play of goalkeeper Lainey Burdett, who has played every minute in goal this season and has a .836 save percentage.
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