Colorado Buffaloes seniors during their senior ceremony before playing against the University of Arizona on Senior Day at Prenup Field on Sunday, Oct. 26, 2025. (Aspen Doust/CU Independent)
Five seniors — goalkeeper Jordan Nytes, midfielder Emerson Layne, defender Greer Maguire, midfielder Mallory Allen and forward Josie Master — celebrated their last match at Prentup Field on Sunday, Oct. 26, with a 1-0 win over the Arizona Wildcats (7-11, Big 12, 2-8).
Junior forward Hope Leyba’s goal lifted No. 11 Colorado (13-2-3, Big 12 7-1-2) to their 13th win of the season, and with it, Leyba set the school’s new single-season goal record with her 18th of the season.
In the 27th minute, everything changed as Hope Leyba scored the first goal of the game with assists from Faith Leyba and Caley Swierenga. Swierenga booted a free kick to Faith Leyba, who ran to nudge the ball into the goal only to be blocked by a diving save from Arizona goalkeeper Olivia Ramey. Ramey was unable to reposition herself in time to stop Leyba from sliding and knocking the Buffs onto the board.
With this goal, Leyba broke Colorado’s record for most goals in a season, moving ahead of Nikki Marshall who set the record in 2006.
In the first half, Ramey stood her ground in the net, making three saves of the seven shots taken by Colorado. Arizona came into the game with the same ferocity as Colorado, ending the half with seven shots as well.
Colorado Buffaloes Soccer, celebrating Hope Leyba’s record breaking goal against the University of Arizona on Senior Day at Prenup Field on Sunday, Oct. 26, 2025. (Aspen Doust/CU Independent)
Colorado’s offense jump-started the second half with three corner kicks in a three-minute span, resulting in two Leyba shots that were stopped by goalkeeper Sofia Cortes-Browne, who substituted in for Ramey.
Nytes held down the defensive end, stopping the final Wildcats attacker, Lily Boydstun’s foot in the 88th minute–also setting a new Colorado program record.
Nytes’ 26th career shutout as a Buff led her to surpass Jessica Keller and Jalen Tompkins as she stopped both shots on goal.
“If you look, Jordi had the shutout, but did she really have to make a big save? I don’t think so,” associate head coach Jason Green said. “Her back four in front of her were fantastic.”
“We couldn’t have done this without each other,” Leyba said about the record-breaking game. “If Jordi doesn’t play like she does, then I can’t score. We just rely on each other, and that’s how we break records.”
Hope Leyba’s record-breaking goal was purposefully assisted by her twin sister, Faith Leyba.
“We actually had this planned,” Hope said. “[Faith] told me this morning that if she was wide open, she was still going to pass to me so I could break the record. It was planned, and it means a lot.”
Marshall was in attendance to support Leyba’s record-setting goal, even bringing her flowers after the game.
“To break records that are that long-standing by great players in the past means that we have something great as well,” Green said.
After finishing out their regular season with a win against the University of Kansas (13-4-3, 6-4-1 Big 12), Colorado beat the University of Central Florida Knights (11-3-5, 5-2-5 Big 12) in the quarterfinal round of the Big 12 Tournament in Fort Worth, Texas on Monday, Nov. 3. The Buffs will advance to the semifinal on Wednesday to play the Jayhawks again. Kickoff is set for 6 p.m. MT and will be streamed live on ESPN+.
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Lilly Watson at lillian.watson@colorado.edu.
