CC women left out of soccer tournament

Idaho State brought out the first groans. Sacred Heart and Auburn caused jaws to drop and all but silenced the giddy nervousness that flooded the cramped basement room at Armstrong Hall on Monday afternoon.

By the time Kansas was announced, most of the Colorado College players had their heads lowered onto desks, the only the sound a perky TV talking head rambling off the rest of the 64 NCAA women's soccer tournament bids.

An 11-5-2 Colorado College team, which spent much of the season ranked in the top 10 in the Central Region, wasn't included.

"If you compare us to the teams in our region that made it, we're clearly ahead in terms of results," third-year coach Greg Ryan said. "Kansas (13-6) had no wins or ties against any tournament team.

"I think we did what we needed to do to make the tournament. We're right there on the bubble and it ended up being a team that didn't do was well as we did that got selected."

After a nine-year absence from the postseason, CC felt it had the record, and more important the results against top-flight competition, to deserve its first tournament bid since advancing to the second round in 1991. The Tigers were 1-3-1 against schools that made the tournament, which was expanded from 48 to 64 teams this year. They lost to William & Mary in their season opener, beat Harvard 5-4 on the road, tied 0-0 at Pepperdine and lost away matches to Denver and No. 2-ranked Santa Clara in their finale Saturday by a combined score of 9-0.

Likely crippling CC's chances were losses at Montana (2-1) and a 1- 0 setback to a Colorado team that crept into Stewart Field with a 1- 9-1 record.

"When we lost to CU, that was a huge blow," said senior co- captain Ashley Magnuson. "But I think the loss to DU was the sealer. After that game, I was 100 percent sure were weren't going to get in. Then, in the last couple of games, I was sure we were going to get in."

Also hurting CC's credentials was its lack of conference affiliation. Aside from hockey, which plays in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association, women's soccer is the only other Division I sport at Colorado College. And though Ryan said the athletic department has talked of the possibilities of joining a conference, it's been just that - talk.

So, Ryan has instead decided to load up the Tigers' schedule with the tournament selection committee in mind. For example, next year nine of CC's scheduled 18 games are against teams in this year's NCAA field.

"The only thing Kansas had going for them was being in the Big 12," said Ryan, who coached Wisconsin and SMU into the NCAA playoffs before coming to CC. "Being a school that's not in a conference, I think you have to be significantly better than the teams that are in a conference because they're going to have the political pull. We have to play these tough schedules and beat at least 50 percent of the (NCAA) teams.

"I think next year we have a pretty good shot at doing that."

For now, though, CC players and Ryan are left with no postseason and a lot of disappointment.

"I wanted this so bad for the (four) seniors," freshman goalkeeper Meghann Loseke said. "This was my first year and, yeah, it seemed great to get into the tournament. But I knew how far they've come. This should have been for them."

- Tim Spencer may be reached at 636-0250 or tspencer@gazette.com

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