Buffs Make Adjustments Ahead of No. 7 Stanford

STANFORD, Calif. – Danny Sanchez and his Colorado Buffaloes are looking for another bounce-back opportunity when they square off with No. 7 Stanford on Sunday (1 p.m. MT, Pac-12 Networks)

Colorado (8-6-4, 2-5-2 Pac-12) would like nothing more than to close out the road trip with its first ranked win of the season. Sunday is CU's fourth consecutive match against a ranked opponent, having faced No. 1 UCLA, No. 15 USC and No. 25 California.

The Buffs opened the trip to the Bay Area on the wrong end of a 4-0 result in Berkeley. Colorado got outshot 25-5 and couldn't overcome an eight-minute stretch where Cal scored its three first-half goals.

"We have to reset," Sanchez stated. "We've been down this path before where we don't play well and then we play well on the weekend. We know the challenge of Stanford at their place on Senior Day. We're aware that it's their last regular-season home game. We don't dwell on that. We dwell on what we need to do and the adjustments we've made. The goal is to get three points."

Similar to the Buffs' loss again UCLA, the team bounced back the next match against USC and scored the opening goal. The Trojans were able to get back to even and force a draw, but the Buffaloes put together a much more complete effort.

Senior transfer Civana Kuhlmann will make her first return to The Farm since leaving the Cardinal for the Buffs. Kuhlmann won two national championships (2017, 2019) with Stanford and totaled 20 goals and seven assists in her three years at Stanford.

All she's done in her first season in Boulder is total career highs in goals (11), assists (6) and points (28).

"We're just happy she's playing with us," Sanchez added.

Colorado picked up its first result in 12 tries last season against Stanford. The Buffs scored twice in two minutes, getting goals from Shanade Hopcroft and Jade Babcock-Chi to erase a 2-0 Stanford lead. A point on Sunday would be the Buffs' first road result against Stanford.

The Cardinal (15-2-1, 8-1-0 Pac-12) are in the hunt for a Pac-12 championship, having handed No. 1 UCLA its only loss of the season. Stanford leads the nation in shots on goal per game (11.1) and is second in the NCAA with 23.6 shots per game.

"We win this game and we're right back in the NCAA Tournament," Sanchez added. "We have everything to play for. We've left it to the last possible moment, but at least we still have a moment."

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