Kotschau leads Buffs past Utah State in 2-0 Victory

Colorado midfielder Reagan Kotschau takes a penalty against the Utah State Aggies on Sunday, Sep. 6 at Prentup Field. (Photo by Kekoa Brown/Sko Buffs Sports)

The Colorado Buffaloes (5-1-1) kept their momentum running with a 2-0 win over the Utah State Aggies. Colorado continued its home unbeaten streak with help from Reagan Kotschau, who continued her red-hot form by scoring her fifth goal of the season.

The Buffs started the match with two shots in the first 10 minutes. Then, in the 11th minute, Colorado drew a penalty following a foul in the box by Utah State.

Senior midfielder Reagan Kotschau placed the ensuing penalty into the bottom corner to open the scoring. Kotschau’s penalty was well taken and sent the keeper in the wrong direction. 

“I saw her dive to my left, so I sent it to the right,” Kotschau said. “ It was a pretty easy one.” In the 26th minute, the Buffs gave up a chance to the Aggies, but freshman goalkeeper Brooke Goersch made a point-blank save to deny the goal. Goersch kept a clean sheet and made six saves. 

“It was one of those games where she didn’t have to do a ton, but when she was called upon, she was good,” said Colorado head coach Danny Sanchez.

The Buffs controlled the rest of the first half and held firm to ensure they went into halftime with the lead. CU kept the tempo up in the second half. 

Colorado created various chances before drawing a corner off of a breakaway save by the Utah State keeper. On the ensuing set piece in the 64th minute, senior forward Hope Leyba headered the ball in the back of the net to extend the lead to two. 

The Buffs pressed hard for the rest of the game to secure their second consecutive victory. 

“I thought our pressing in the second half and our quality of movement in the final third was really good,”  Sanchez said. 

Kotschau was the difference-maker today for the Buffs as she contributed a goal and an assist in the victory. Through seven games, the midfielder already has eight goal contributions.

“She’s doing great. She’ll play both ends of the ball; she’ll do the dirty work,”  said Sanchez. “I think she still has more to give, though, but today was a very solid performance by her.”

Through the first six games of the season, CU have only conceded three times at home and have kept three clean sheets, two of those coming at Prentup. 

“It just shows that we defend as a whole and that our back line is really connected," Kotschau said. “It’s something we’ve really been working on, keeping our clean sheets. It’s just as important as getting goal shots” 

The Buffs look to continue an impressive start to their season as they take on the Denver Pioneers on Friday. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. MT at Prentup Field (ESPN+).