Colorado heads to Tempe on Sunday with a clean goal in front of it: finish the road trip with a sweep.
The Buffaloes visit Arizona State on Oct. 25 at 2 p.m. MT, with the match streaming on ESPN+.
Colorado has already banked consecutive road wins at Kansas State and Arizona, piling up seven goals over those two matches. A third straight result would send CU back home with a full nine points from the trip and some momentum for the final two matches of the regular season.
The Buffs enter at 11-4-1 overall and 5-3-0 in Big 12 play, sitting on 15 conference points. That leaves them five ahead of Arizona State, which comes in at 8-5-3 and 3-4-1. The Sun Devils dropped a 2-0 home decision to Baylor on Thursday, one week after beating Oklahoma State 2-1 on the road.
"Arizona State is a really good team, and we know it's going to be a tough challenge, especially playing at their place. We're going to enjoy the night, but then we'll turn our attention to Sunday," Head Coach Danny Sanchez said after Thursday's match.
Arizona State has been dangerous at home, going 5-3-2 in Tempe, and it has enough finishing options to make Sunday uncomfortable. Kierra Blundell leads the Sun Devils with seven goals and 17 points. Sierra Bergen has four goals and four assists, while Amy Medley tops the team with five assists.
The first half could go a long way in deciding things. Arizona State has scored 19 of its 31 goals before halftime, while Colorado has outscored opponents 22-6 in the opening half. The Buffs are 11-1-0 when they score first.
There’s also a defense-versus-attack edge worth watching. ASU held Baylor off the board until the 57th minute Thursday and finished with 15 shots, five of them on goal. Colorado, meanwhile, just posted a 4-0 win over Arizona in which the Wildcats did not put a shot on goal.
CU’s first two wins on the trip came in very different ways. At Kansas State, the Buffs answered after the Wildcats erased leads twice, then Lilian Zamorano delivered the winner in a 3-2 victory. In Tucson, Colorado controlled the game more comfortably, with Reagan Kotschau and Michaela McGowan scoring 2:26 apart in the first half before Jace Holley and Faith Leyba added second-half goals.
That kind of scoring balance gives Colorado plenty of ways to hurt an opponent. Kotschau and Hope Leyba are tied for the team lead with nine goals apiece, McGowan has six, and Holley added a goal and an assist against Arizona.
Kotschau also carries 10 assists, which ties Colorado’s single-season record shared by Taylor Kornieck, Shanade Hopcroft and Emerson Layne. One more assist would give the senior midfielder the mark outright.
Colorado’s back line has been just as steady. Brooke Goerish and Jamie Campbell combined for the Buffs’ ninth team shutout on Thursday. Goerish enters Sunday with a 0.77 goals-against average and an .844 save percentage.
The series between the schools is dead even at 7-7-2. Colorado has won the last two meetings, both by shutout, including a 2-0 win at Prentup Field last season. Sunday will be its first trip to Tempe since 2021, and the Buffs are 1-3-2 on Arizona State’s home field.
After Sunday, Colorado returns to Boulder to face Cincinnati on Friday, Oct. 30, at 7 p.m. MT, then closes the regular season against Oklahoma State on Thursday, Nov. 5, at 7 p.m. MT.
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Colorado Faces A Kansas State Problem That Just Got Harder To Read
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The uncertainty does not stop with Johnson. Blake Barnett and Jacob Knuth are both part of the conversation, and Kleins latest update offered no easy read on who will take the first snap against the Buffaloes. For Colorado, the scouting report may end up coming down less to a name on the depth chart than to which version of Kansas State actually shows up. [Read more 🡒]