SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (10/4/11) —The University of Colorado women’s club soccer team will play in a tournament hosted by the University of California Santa Barbara this weekend. The tournament will take place Oct.7-9 and all games will be played on campus at UCSB. This year’s tournament includes a plethora of premier club soccer teams including San Diego State, UCLA, the University of California at Berkley, Colorado State, Arizona and Texas A&M. Perhaps the best team in the tournament is the host, UCSB won the 2010 national championship and is a perennial powerhouse.
The Buffs’ have been playing well lately, with notable victories verses Northern Colorado and the Colorado School of Mines. Colorado’s recent wins have boosted their record to an impressive 7-1-3, with their only coming at the hands of Laramie County Community College.
Last year the Buffaloes won the UCSB tournament. The team is confident in their ability to win the tournament again this year, but is still very aware that it won’t be an easy task.
“Region VI has some of the strongest competition in the country,” said head coach Dorian Barnes. “It has the defending national champion, plus many other strong teams throughout the region attending. We love attending this tournament every year because it is the closest we will get to the competition we will face at nationals. It will be a great preparation for the entire group.”
The halves in the tournament are slightly shorter than what the Buffs’ usually play. The field being used in the tournament is also a short turf field which is very different from CU’s home field in Boulder which is a long grass field.
“We are going to train this week on a smaller field, in hopes to get ready for the tournament,” said Barnes. “If we want to win, making that adjustment (playing on a smaller field) will be key, but if we want to win we need to continue down the path of getting better game after game.”
Colorado hopes to win the tournament, but they have bigger goals for the season.
“Our Gold team is the defending champions of this tournament, so our hope (as it is every year) is that we can go in there and win it,” said Barnes. “But winning this tournament doesn't necessarily mean you will win a national title either as was proof last year when we went out in the quarterfinals. But our players know that, and we want to win this tournament just to keep momentum, and confidence going into the final month of the season before we head to Phoenix.”
Tournament games will be played all day in the heart of UCSB’s campus. For more information on the tournament and on CU women’s club soccer visit their website at www.cusoccer.net.
