The Colorado women’s soccer team was just a few minutes from what would’ve been one of the biggest wins in program history.
Then Kate Faasse and the North Carolina Tar Heels broke the Buffaloes’ hearts.
CU was on the cusp of toppling the Tar Heels, who are tied for eighth in the nation, until Faasse scored twice in the final 2 minutes, 47 seconds to hand the Buffs a stunning 3-2 defeat at Prentup Field.
The Buffs were less than 3 minutes away from notching what would’ve been the third-highest ranked win in team history. Instead, CU will have to shake off a major disappointment before a Thursday home date against Wyoming, which defeated No. 3 BYU in an exhibition game before playing Washington to a scoreless draw on the road in its season opener.
“I don’t want to take anything away from North Carolina, or our performance. Sometimes it’s tough in these moments to look at the big picture, and you have to look at the big picture. We played very well in lots of stretches,” CU head coach Danny Sanchez said. “As for the end of the game, I thought we were defending a little deep and we were just getting tired. We weren’t getting enough pressure higher up the field, and we weren’t doing a good enough job keeping (possession) when we wanted.
“But that’s soccer. You start looking at the clock, you see it’s ticking down, all you want to do is get rid of it. And we needed to do a better job of keeping it.”
CU sophomore Ava Priest helped create a couple of early chances for the Buffs, but it was North Carolina that took a 1-0 lead into halftime after a goal by freshman Bella Gaetino in the 28th minute.
At that point, the Buffs had played the perennial-power Tar Heels for six and a half games all-time without scoring a goal. Yet fifth-year senior Shyra James finally ended that streak late in the 53rd minute, scoring her first goal of the season off an assist from Juliauna Hayward.
CU took the lead about 20 minutes later when Hope Leyba flicked a header on net off a free kick. UNC goalie Clare Gagne deflected the attempt, but Buffs sophomore Angelina Moschetti powered home the rebound for her first career goal while putting CU in position for just the second nonconference top-10 win in program history.
Yet UNC refused to go away quietly, and the Buffs buckled down the stretch.
The Tar Heels drew even when forward Olivia Thomas shook off a pair of CU players before launching a shot that Buffs goalie Jordan Nytes turned away. However, Faasse converted the rebound to tie the game at 2-2.
CU still could’ve survived with a draw that would’ve been a respectable result, but a combination of lax defense and bad luck doomed the Buffs. In the final minute, UNC’s Tessa Dellarose launched a long entry pass to Faasse, who was unable to fire off a proper shot but nonetheless was able to deflect the ball just inside the far post with 42 seconds remaining.
“The clock wouldn’t go fast enough at the end, and I think we started to press a bit towards the end,” Sanchez said. “We choose to look at the positives. There’s 17 games after this and we’re going to have some big games coming up. We can feel sorry for ourselves for a little bit. But I’ve been doing this a long time, and these things tend to even out. At some point, we’ll get a result late kind of maybe from nothing. We’ll bounce back.”
Notable
The crowd of 1,876 was the eighth-largest in Prentup Field history. … James’ goal was the 41st of her career, moving her one behind Nikki Marshall’s program-record of 42. … Nytes finished with 10 saves, her highest total since joining the Buffs prior to the 2023 season.
No. T-8 North Carolina 3, CU Buffs women’s soccer 2
North Carolina 1 2 — 3
Colorado 0 2 — 2
Goals — North Carolina: Gaetino (Thomas), 28th minute; Faasse (Thomas), 88th minute; Faasse (Dellarose), 90th minute. Colorado: James (Hayward), 56th minute; Moschetti (H. Leyba), 74th minute.
Goalies (Min.-goals allowed-saves) — North Carolina: Gagne (90-2-3). Colorado: Nytes (90-3-10).
