Buffs Back at Home against Washington

BOULDER – Colorado soccer returns to Prentup Field for the first time since Sept. 9, hosting Washington on Thursday (3 p.m. P12 Networks).

Colorado (5-3-1, 0-0-1 Pac-12) was last in front of the CU faithful in its 4-2 win over Cal State Fullerton. Since then, the Buffaloes have gone 1-1-1 on the road over the last three weeks. 

"We're excited to be back home," head coach Danny Sanchez commented. "We've been on the road for three weeks. There's nothing like playing at Prentup. There are five home games left this year so we know we have to take advantage of these opportunities to be at home."

The Buffs opened Pac-12 play last week with a 2-2 draw at California. CU got two early goals from Shanade Hopcroft and Allie Palangi but saw the Golden Bears get two unanswered goals in the second half to force the draw. 

"I think we got off to a great start [at Cal] but there was a lot of soccer left to be played," Sanchez continued. We got through the first half, which we wanted to do. We gave up the goal early in the second half and you could see the momentum shift. 

I thought we did ok after that. Give credit to Cal. I thought their second goal was very good. I liked how we responded later in the game, but especially the overtime. I thought we were really playing on the front foot, creating more of the opportunities. If we're honest with ourselves, a 2-2 draw was probably a fair result. Like I told the team, it's a good result on the road against a good team."

Colorado and Washington met in back-to-back contests in the 2020* season. The two games were No. 4 and 5 on the season for the Buffs. The first match was a 0-0 draw with the second finishing in a 2-1 result for the Huskies. CU owns a slim 4-3-4 advantage in the series. 

"Washington is a very good team," Sanchez added. "They went to the Sweet 16 last year and are basically the same team, especially on the attack. I think last year, there were just so many factors being that played into it that I don't think we were up to speed for the Pac-12 game. We got exposed that first weekend. I thought the rest of the conference season we played well. Washington puts a lot of pressure on you, and they are very dynamic on the attack. We know we're going to have to play well if we are going to get a result tomorrow."

UW (2-4-2, 0-0-1 Pac-12) opened its Pac-12 season with a 2-2 draw against Arizona State. Similar to Colorado, two of the Huskies' losses have come against top-ranked opponents in No. 3 North Carolina and No. 6 Duke. Jessika Cowart and Summer Yates lead UW with two goals apiece. The Huskies have yet to get the offensive attack going, totaling eight goals in eight games (12th Pac-12).

The first 250 fans on Thursday will get a free CU soccer koozie. Fans at Sunday's game will receive a t-shirt giveaway. 

Washington State (7-1-1, 1-0-0 Pac-12) will travel to Colorado on Sunday. The Cougars play at Utah on Thursday. 

Thad Anderson will have the call on the Pac-12 Network for both matches.