A Little About CU Soccer

The University of Colorado Men's club soccer team is organized of CU students and staff. Funding for participation comes from allotted funds from the University, as well as dues paid for by each individual player. The teams practice 3 times a week with 1-2 games a week in regional play. The ultimate goal is to get a bid to the NIRSA Nationals to compete for a National Championship.

The National Club Soccer Championships took place in November, 2009 at the Reach 11 Complex in Phoenix, Arizona. As expected both teams played exceptionally well – and with limited rosters as well. We were nervous about the sizes of our rosters – 16 players for Gold and 12 for Black said Vaughan. Most other teams brought down squads with as many as 26 players on a roster. You need numbers and depth to go far in any tournament.

In the Championship Division, the Gold Team came out flying with a 2-1 win against UW-Milwaukee. The second game saw a slight setback with a 0-2 loss to the Missouri Tigers. A Missouri victory over UW-Milwaukee that evening pushed CU-Gold through to the second round. While this took place, the CU-Black team had an opening round loss to San Diego State, but quickly rebounded with two victories against Texas (2-0) and Towson (1-0) to move on to the second round of the Open Division.

The Black team continued its strong play in the first game of the second round against Villanova, but fell short of moving on by a score of 0-1. Unfortunately, this is when we really needed some fresh legs said Vaughan. These guys played their hearts out for three straight games with only 12 players, and came up a bit short in the quarters. We're extremely proud of their performance.

The Gold team played a great game against a quality UC Santa Barbara opponent during the first game of the playoffs. We played these guys last year and beat them last year said junior defender, Ryan Zubizarreta. An early goal by the Buffaloes and solid team defending allowed the Gold team to move on in the tournament with a 1-0 result.

The quarterfinal match was probably one of the most exciting in the tournament and pitted CU against a highly skilled team from Michigan State. A 1-1 tie at the end of regulation and the overtime period sent the game to a shootout. Senior goalkeeper Matt Rowe made two quality saves while the Buffaloes converted on all five of their kicks from the mark. Matty has clearly been our MVP this tournament Vaughan said after the game.

The semifinals unfortunately proved to be the farthest the Buffaloes would go in the tournament. They played a great game against a deep and talented Florida squad. The 3-0 score doesn't reflect how well we played said Vaughan. We just ran out of gas in this one. Our 16 players went down to 14 after some injuries, while Florida had a roster of 26. The last two goals came when we were pressing everyone in the box trying to score.

Advancing to the semifinal match for the Gold Team, and the quarterfinals for the Black team that had never participated in the tournament before is an extremely positive sign for the CU Men's Soccer Program. I am proud of every single one of our players and the effort they gave. We made it further than the previous year and there's no reason we should be hanging our heads Vaughan said after the game. Exciting things are coming to Boulder next year.

The 2010 season looks to be promising, and expectations are high. CU will have three teams this year so that more players are able to participate. The opportunity for any players to be moved up to the higher level team exists throughout the entire season.