The 2025 campaign was a historic one for the Colorado women’s soccer team.
The Buffaloes finished 17-4-3, breaking the team record for wins. CU reached its third consecutive NCAA Tournament, the first time that had been achieved since the Buffs ended a run of six consecutive bids in 2008. The Buffs advanced to the Sweet 16 for just the third time, and the first since 2013.
The rest of the Big 12 Conference is on alert, as the Buffs have a chance to be even better this year.
The Buffs kicked off the 2026 campaign, the program’s 14th under head coach Danny Sanchez, with the first official practice of the season on Wednesday. CU returns most of the players that compiled the highest-scoring season in team history last year, and the Buffs also return three starters along a defensive line that projects to be deeper and even more versatile this season.
“We have options on every line, from goalkeeper all the way up to striker,” Sanchez said. “How they perform and all that, that’s to be determined. Obviously we have some special players that are back that we all know of. But we really like a lot of our additions. The bigger picture is I think we have more depth. Only 11 can play at a time, but we’ll have more options for sure.”
Last year, CU set team records for total goals (59), goals per game (2.46), assists (66) and points (184). So prolific were the Buffs offensively that not only did Hope Leyba set a team record with 22 goals, shattering Nikki Marshall’s 19-year old mark of 17 goals, but Jace Holley’s 12 goals trails only two other players prior to last season (Marshall, and Shyra James’ 15 goals in 2023).
Leyba and Holley are back, and although the Buffs lost Emerson Layne (who tied a team record with 10 assists) to graduation while midfielder Ava Priest transferred to UCLA, CU still boasts plenty of firepower beyond the top two strikers. The Buffs also return Broomfield native Regan Kotschau, who posted seven goals and six assists, and the Buffs added to forwards via the transfer portal — Berkley Mensik, who missed last season at Notre Dame due to an injury but recorded a goal and three assists in 2024, and another Broomfield native in Michaela McGowan, who scored six goals for Colorado State last season.
“I think we have great leadership. We have so many seniors here that could be captain, so that’s going to be a great factor on our team,” Leyba said. “We have a bunch of juniors who are super-talented, we have some international players coming in that are going to add to our team, and the freshmen as well. The new players we got are going to be really good.”
Defensively, CU’s only obvious question mark is in goal, where the successor to All-American Jordan Nytes will be uncovered through what Sanchez described as a preseason competition between Jamie Campbell, Nytes’ backup the past two seasons, along with Texas Tech transfer Madeline Mueller and freshman Brooke Goerish.
Whoever lands that job, CU’s goalie will have the benefit of working behind a veteran defensive line anchored by Faith Leyba, arguably the top central defender in the nation. CU’s defense returns two other starters in Jordan Whiteaker and Caley Swierenga, while the unit will be bolstered by the return of two defenders whose seasons were cut short by injury last year in Lilian Zamorano, who played in the first 16 games before getting injured, and Kenzi Gillispie, formerly a four-year starter at Kansas State before she suffered a season-ending injury in her second game with CU last year.
“We’ll get (Gillispie and Zamorano) back, and we’ve added some talented younger players as well,” Sanchez said. “Not only do we have good competition back there, but we have good depth for when we sub or in case of injuries or anything.”