No. 24 Colorado heads into Sunday with momentum, a home streak, and a direct shot at Kansas in the Big 12 race.
The Buffaloes will host the Jayhawks on Oct. 11 at Prentup Field, with Colorado sitting one point back in the standings. The Buffs are 9-3-1 overall and 3-2-0 in conference play, while Kansas comes in at 9-3-1 and 3-1-1.
Both teams are coming off shutout wins Thursday: Colorado blanked No. 7 Baylor 3-0, and Kansas handled Kansas State 2-0.
That Baylor result did more than pad the résumé. It pushed Colorado to a program-record 14 straight home wins, topping the 13-match run from the 2003-04 seasons.
The Buffs have been untouchable at Prentup this year, going 8-0-0 there, scoring 27 goals and allowing just three. They’ve found the net at least twice in every home match.
Still, head coach Danny Sanchez made it clear that the next test is a serious one.
"We need this crowd for Kansas. Kansas is a very good team," Sanchez said. "So we're going to have to be on the top of our game on Sunday."
Kansas has been on a strong run of its own, winning three of its last four and shutting out all three of those opponents. Its only loss in that stretch came at Baylor, where Sanchez said the Jayhawks controlled play for long stretches despite the 3-1 final.
The Kansas attack has multiple ways to hurt you, but midfielder Jillian Gregorski is the main name to know. She leads the team with seven goals and 14 points, and she’s piled up 53 shots with 23 on target.
Defender Caroline Castans has chipped in five goals and three assists, while Livvy Moore tops the Jayhawks with 10 assists. Colorado will have to keep Gregorski from getting comfortable, but that’s only part of the assignment.
Kansas also tends to finish strong. The Jayhawks have scored 20 of their 27 goals in the second half while giving up just four after halftime.
Jordan Rowan and Jocelyn Herrema scored in the 50th and 66th minutes against Kansas State, another example of a team that keeps pressing late. Colorado’s defensive discipline will be tested for the full 90.
In goal, Sophie Dawe has given Kansas a steady last line. She owns a 0.69 goals-against average, 29 saves and a .763 save percentage, with six solo shutouts and one shared shutout. Kansas has allowed only nine goals in 13 matches.
Sunday’s matchup is the first meeting between the teams since Kansas beat Colorado 2-1 in the 2025 Big 12 Tournament semifinals. Colorado won the regular-season meeting in Lawrence, 2-1, and leads the all-time series 11-9-1. The Buffs are 5-4-0 at home against Kansas, including a 1-0 win in Boulder in 2024.
Colorado’s own defense has been locked in, too. The shutout of Baylor was the Buffs’ eighth of the season, already more than they had in the entire 24-match 2025 campaign. Through five Big 12 matches, Colorado has kept Iowa State, West Virginia and Baylor off the board.
Freshman goalkeeper Brooke Goerish had six saves Thursday for her fifth solo shutout. She now has 44 saves, a 0.69 goals-against average and a .863 save percentage. Sanchez praised both her and the back line after the win.
"She was great tonight," Sanchez said. "And the back four were fantastic."
Colorado also got major production going forward. Reagan Kotschau assisted on both of Hope Leyba’s goals against Baylor, giving her a team-best eight assists and 22 points. Sloane Phillips added her third assist of the year on Jace Holley’s second-half goal.
Leyba continues to stack up milestones. She leads the Buffs with nine goals and is one away from tying Nikki Marshall for second in Colorado history. Her two-goal night moved her past Taylor Kornieck into sole possession of third with 41 career goals, and she also set the program’s career shots-on-goal record by reaching 131, passing Shyra James’ 130.
Holley’s return has given Colorado another scorer to pair with Leyba, Kotschau and Michaela McGowan, who has five goals this season. In her fourth game back from injury, Holley scored her first goal and picked up her first assist of the year against Baylor.
"I thought she gave us a real spark," Sanchez said. "This is a good stepping stone tonight."
In Other News...
Colorado Let A Big Chance Slip In Costly Four Set Loss
Colorados trip to Desert Financial Arena started with promise, as the No. 23 Buffaloes took the opening set from No. 11 Arizona State and looked ready to put a statement win on the board. Instead, the Sun Devils settled in and Colorado wound up dropping the next three sets, leaving the Buffs with a 10-4 record and a 2-3 mark in conference play after a match that felt very much there for the taking.
There were still individual bright spots for Colorado in the loss, with Peyton Neal reaching a career milestone on the defensive side and Jenna Ylivainio turning in another busy night at the net. Ylivainios production gave the Buffs some resistance as the match wore on, but the bigger concern is the one Colorado keeps trying to solve in league play: how to turn a good start into a full four-set performance against one of the conferences better teams. [Read more 🡒]
Colorados Bye Week Could Expose Problems Deion Sanders Must Fix
With Colorado on a bye, Deion Sanders gets a rare chance to step back and study the road ahead instead of worrying about the next snap. The Buffaloes are expected to keep a close eye on Utah, Oklahoma State and Kansas State, using the week off to gather a better feel for the opponents waiting in the weeks ahead. It is the kind of pause that can be valuable for a team still sorting out its own identity on both sides of the ball.
What makes this stretch especially useful is that each of those upcoming opponents offers a different kind of test, from offensive tempo to defensive pressure to the little details that can swing a game plan. Colorados staff is looking for clues on where the Buffaloes need to tighten things up, particularly in how they handle matchups on offense and contain them on defense. The bye week may be quiet on the schedule, but for Sanders it is also a chance to spot the problems that will matter most once play resumes. [Read more 🡒]
Colorados QB Reset Is Raising A Bigger Concern For Buffs Fans
Colorados offense is in the middle of a reset, and Julian Lewis is at the center of it. Brennan Marions Go-Go system asks the quarterback to be part of the ground game as much as the passing game, which is why Lewiss fit has drawn so much attention. The issue is not simply about one player trying to learn a new scheme. It is about whether the Buffaloes have the right structure in place to make the system work at all.
Lewis has been trying to adapt, but the broader concern for Colorado fans is that the offense keeps exposing the same limitations. If the quarterback position is not supplying the run threat Marion needs, the entire design starts to lose its edge. And with coaching decisions and team performance already under the microscope, the Buffs are left weighing whether this is a short-term adjustment or a deeper problem that still needs a fix. [Read more 🡒]