Colorado won 2-0 at Prentup Field for its fifth straight win, and freshman Brooke Goerish kept her fourth clean sheet.
BOULDER — No. 13 Colorado beat No. 10 West Virginia 2-0 on Thursday at Prentup Field, handing the Mountaineers their first loss of the season in the Buffs’ Big 12 home opener. Hope Leyba’s first-half volley was the 39th goal of her career, tying Taylor Kornieck for third in program history and leaving her eight behind Shyra James.
West Virginia had the better of the first half hour, and Brooke Goerish kept it scoreless with two early saves. The opener came five seconds after a West Virginia yellow card. Emma Thielbahr’s free kick found Sloane Phillips on the right side of the box, Reagan Kotschau headed it on, and Leyba volleyed it in at 35:58. Kotschau doubled the lead in the 69th minute. Kaia Santomarco-King went down in the box, Danny Sanchez asked for a video review, and the review gave Colorado a penalty that Kotschau drove low into the net at 68:37.
West Virginia arrived on a 22-match regular-season unbeaten run and left with four yellow cards, two of them shown to its bench. It won four corners in the first half and none after it. “We talked about halftime, not giving them corners and set pieces,” Sanchez said. “We gave them no corners in the second half, which usually is indicative of us pressing on their end of the field.” The Mountaineers put three of their nine shots on target, and Goerish saved all three for her fourth clean sheet of the season. Bailey Herfurth made seven saves at the other end, one of them on a Kotschau breakaway in the 87th minute.
Leyba said the finish came straight off the training field. “Honestly, I just knew I had to shoot it, but we’ve been practicing volleys a little bit at practice and I was making some, so I guess it just carried into the game,” she said. Goerish, a freshman who arrived last spring, said the target never changes. “Obviously, [a] clean sheet is the goal,” she said. “It’s written up on the locker room board. No goals. That’s the goal every time.”
Colorado (8-1-1, 2-0 Big 12) has won five straight and, according to CU, matched the program record of 13 consecutive home wins set in 2004. The Buffs play at No. 25 Texas Tech on Sunday at noon in Lubbock and at No. 23 UCF on Oct. 2, then host No. 11 Baylor on Oct. 8 to close a run of four straight ranked opponents.
