Better late than never, Denver women’s soccer wrapped up the Colorado Cup title in a dramatic 1-0 extra-time thriller against Colorado State Sunday in Denver. The title was Denver’s first Colorado Cup since 2013. Jordan Crockett found net a little over a minute into overtime for the win. Denver doubled up CSU in shots on goal, 16-8 in the effort.
The tournament featured Northern Colorado, Colorado College, University of Colorado, Air force, and Denver. Three matches were played and, under the tournament format, three points were awarded for a win and a point for each goal account which accounted for a cumulative score, and eventual winner. The tournament included exhibition scores and regular-season results for each team, though Denver and CU were not scheduled to play each other in this season’s tournament.
The tournament was not without controversy, however. In the 51st minute of the Colorado-Colorado State match in Boulder with the Buffs leading 3-0, lightning caused a 129-minute delay. Normally, this wouldn’t be an issue, but CU’s Prentup Field doesn’t have lights and the game’s officials offered the teams a 17-minute warm-up period instead of the normal 30 minutes in order to finish the game before sunset. According to Colorado sources, the Buffs were ready to play but the Rams never even left their bus. The match was then declared a ‘no contest’ by NCAA rules which state “Once a game has been started and suspended, it must be restarted not later than three hours after the originally scheduled start time unless mutually agreed upon before the start of the game by the teams or determined by the governing sports authority.” According to reports, CU officials and administrators tried to get CSU to reschedule but were rebuffed (With all of this drama already in August, it’s really too bad we won’t get to see these two schools settle this score on the football field this year).
The Buffs ended up with 9 tournament points instead of the 15 or more they might have secured against CSU. Denver ended the tournament with 18 points, so it’s unlikely CU could have overtaken a solid Denver side in total points.
Based on their regular season opening ‘no contest’, CU may have to find an additional opponent for this season to fill its schedule. CU and Denver are scheduled to meet on September 19th in a non-conference match at CIBER Field.
Photo: Clarkson Creative Photography/DU Women’s Soccer
DU already plays CU in Denver in September
You are right, we will correct!
It was great to see live.
Glad the Pioneers got the win and the tournament title, which is an early confidence booster for a fairly loaded and experienced team.
Not of fan of CSU’s unsportsmanlike theatrics to avoid the loss to CU by hiding on their bus and skipping the finish of the game. While the Rammies did have the letter of the law behind them and used it to its fullest extent to their own benefit, the loser here was the game itself, whose spirit was violated. Competition is why the game is played…
DU’s next opponent, Utah, dominated Boise State last week but lost. The Utes will be a little salty when they come to Denver, so the Pios need to be ready. Film study of the CSU game will show some gaps in the Pioneer coverage in the central areas, which will need to be shored up in practice this week…