Colorado University Athletics
Photo by: CUBuffs.com
Kornieck Healthy And Hoping For "Breakout" Season
July 16, 2018 | Soccer
BOULDER – Taylor Kornieck had a very good sophomore season in 2017. It was a season, with seven goals and four assists, that most college soccer players would dream of. But in some ways, it was a bit of a sophomore slump.
Kornieck, a native of Henderson, Nev., had the second-best freshman season in school history (behind former U.S. Women's National Team member Nikki Marshall's 17 goals and three assists in 2006) in 2016 when she scored 11 times and had four assists. She even broke a couple of Marshall's school records with goals in five consecutive matches at one point in the middle of Pac-12 play. So when compared to her sophomore campaign, yes, there was a bit of a drop-off in production. As a result, she is eager for her upcoming junior season this fall.
"I'm an upperclassman so I feel like this should be my breakout year," Kornieck said. "I definitely think I had a really good freshman year. My sophomore year was kind of okay, so I need to have a breakout year. I'm really excited for it."
CU head coach Danny Sanchez doesn't necessarily buy into the notion that 2017 was a slump. He points out that she was constantly moved around the field to different positions as the Buffs were looking for their best combination following some injuries and the graduation of the other two of the team's top three scorers from 2016.
"She had a fantastic freshman season, and I think her sophomore season was underrated," Sanchez said. "She had to do a lot more for us. She played a lot of the season out of position to help the cause, so I think she had a very good sophomore year. We challenged her to really ramp up her game going into her junior year and take it to the next level because we still feel she has a lot to give to the game and to the team. We're excited to see how it goes for her this fall."
She has had a whirlwind past couple of seasons outside of Boulder, going in and out of youth national team camps. She was a team captain of the U-18 team in 2016 and scored her first international goal in 2017 with the U-19 team against England. But in that match vs. England, she broke her nose and her breathing has been affected since.
Kornieck was with the U-20 team in Spain earlier this spring when she got banged up again in training and was sent home prior to competition starting rather than risk a more serious injury.
Taking time away from the national team program and sitting out some of CU's spring season has allowed her to head into her junior season healthy, and more importantly, gave Kornieck a chance to get her broken nose repaired. She says she can breathe much better now, key for an endurance athlete competing at elevation.
"I finally got it fixed right when school ended," Kornieck said. "It took two weeks until I could start running, and then six weeks later I could start playing. Now I'm fully ready to go...I had a deviated septum, so it kind of affected [my breathing]. But I can breathe 100 times better now."
After visiting the Bahamas with her family earlier this summer, Kornieck returned to training. She says she is leaner and more fit heading into the season. Most importantly, she is healthy.
The Buffs are exactly one month away from the season opener at Air Force on Aug. 16 and Kornieck is ready to help the Buffs compete for Pac-12 and national championships. Sanchez agrees with Kornieck that this could be her breakout season, despite entering her junior year already in the top-10 in CU history in scoring.
While those offensive numbers (18 career goals, eight assists) have always impressed, her work elsewhere is a difference-maker for the Buffs.
"I think that a lot of people don't realize the amount of work Taylor does on both sides of the ball as far as set pieces, defensively, and attacking," Sanchez said. "She brings a lot more to the table as an attacking center midfielder. She does a lot of the work that a holding midfielder would do defensively."
CU officially returns nine starters from last year, but 11 players who started 10 or more matches last season are back in 2018. Additionally, the team returns Jorian Baucom (33 goals in three seasons at LSU; redshirted at CU in 2017 while recovering from an injury), Stephanie Zuniga (two goals and six assists in 37 career matches) and Libby Geraghty (started last season's opening match before a season-ending injury). The Buffs players have made a combined 384 career starts at CU and 462 at the Division I level when including players that have transferred here.
"I think that having a deeper squad around her and being able to really focus on one position this year—I think she's going to have a breakout season," Sanchez said. "I think this year we'll have more options around her, which I think will help not only her, but the other attacking players we have in camp."
There is a chance Kornieck could be gone for the early part of the season as the FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup takes place Aug. 5-24 in France. In addition to having high goals at CU for the season, she is hoping to at least be invited back to U-20 team camp with a goal of making the roster for the World Cup.
Kornieck, a native of Henderson, Nev., had the second-best freshman season in school history (behind former U.S. Women's National Team member Nikki Marshall's 17 goals and three assists in 2006) in 2016 when she scored 11 times and had four assists. She even broke a couple of Marshall's school records with goals in five consecutive matches at one point in the middle of Pac-12 play. So when compared to her sophomore campaign, yes, there was a bit of a drop-off in production. As a result, she is eager for her upcoming junior season this fall.
"I'm an upperclassman so I feel like this should be my breakout year," Kornieck said. "I definitely think I had a really good freshman year. My sophomore year was kind of okay, so I need to have a breakout year. I'm really excited for it."
CU head coach Danny Sanchez doesn't necessarily buy into the notion that 2017 was a slump. He points out that she was constantly moved around the field to different positions as the Buffs were looking for their best combination following some injuries and the graduation of the other two of the team's top three scorers from 2016.
"She had a fantastic freshman season, and I think her sophomore season was underrated," Sanchez said. "She had to do a lot more for us. She played a lot of the season out of position to help the cause, so I think she had a very good sophomore year. We challenged her to really ramp up her game going into her junior year and take it to the next level because we still feel she has a lot to give to the game and to the team. We're excited to see how it goes for her this fall."
She has had a whirlwind past couple of seasons outside of Boulder, going in and out of youth national team camps. She was a team captain of the U-18 team in 2016 and scored her first international goal in 2017 with the U-19 team against England. But in that match vs. England, she broke her nose and her breathing has been affected since.
Kornieck was with the U-20 team in Spain earlier this spring when she got banged up again in training and was sent home prior to competition starting rather than risk a more serious injury.
Taking time away from the national team program and sitting out some of CU's spring season has allowed her to head into her junior season healthy, and more importantly, gave Kornieck a chance to get her broken nose repaired. She says she can breathe much better now, key for an endurance athlete competing at elevation.
"I finally got it fixed right when school ended," Kornieck said. "It took two weeks until I could start running, and then six weeks later I could start playing. Now I'm fully ready to go...I had a deviated septum, so it kind of affected [my breathing]. But I can breathe 100 times better now."
After visiting the Bahamas with her family earlier this summer, Kornieck returned to training. She says she is leaner and more fit heading into the season. Most importantly, she is healthy.
The Buffs are exactly one month away from the season opener at Air Force on Aug. 16 and Kornieck is ready to help the Buffs compete for Pac-12 and national championships. Sanchez agrees with Kornieck that this could be her breakout season, despite entering her junior year already in the top-10 in CU history in scoring.
While those offensive numbers (18 career goals, eight assists) have always impressed, her work elsewhere is a difference-maker for the Buffs.
"I think that a lot of people don't realize the amount of work Taylor does on both sides of the ball as far as set pieces, defensively, and attacking," Sanchez said. "She brings a lot more to the table as an attacking center midfielder. She does a lot of the work that a holding midfielder would do defensively."
CU officially returns nine starters from last year, but 11 players who started 10 or more matches last season are back in 2018. Additionally, the team returns Jorian Baucom (33 goals in three seasons at LSU; redshirted at CU in 2017 while recovering from an injury), Stephanie Zuniga (two goals and six assists in 37 career matches) and Libby Geraghty (started last season's opening match before a season-ending injury). The Buffs players have made a combined 384 career starts at CU and 462 at the Division I level when including players that have transferred here.
"I think that having a deeper squad around her and being able to really focus on one position this year—I think she's going to have a breakout season," Sanchez said. "I think this year we'll have more options around her, which I think will help not only her, but the other attacking players we have in camp."
There is a chance Kornieck could be gone for the early part of the season as the FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup takes place Aug. 5-24 in France. In addition to having high goals at CU for the season, she is hoping to at least be invited back to U-20 team camp with a goal of making the roster for the World Cup.
Players Mentioned
Monday, April 06
Tuesday, November 25
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Thursday, November 20