photo by: Nathan Friedman/Special to the Journal-World

Kansas midfielder Emily Tobin fights past her defender during the game against Colorado on Thursday, Oct. 30, 2025, in Lawrence.

The Kansas soccer team dropped its final regular-season match of the year to the Colorado Buffaloes on Thursday night at Rock Chalk Park by a score of 2-1.

The lone goal for the Jayhawks came from sophomore midfielder Jillian Gregorski in the 82nd minute of the match, and CU’s Reagan Kotschau scored the game-winner on a free kick five minutes later.

“I thought, I have no idea if it’s because of senior day, but I thought we came out flat today,” Kansas head coach Nate Lie said after the match. “We honored those seniors, they deserved it. I think we’ve come out flat too many times in these games. We had some really dangerous moments early and just didn’t take advantage of them at all and then conceded once again, the first time they really got across midfield we conceded again, and that’s become a pattern and as the head coach, I’m responsible for that so we have to fix that.”

Colorado struck first in the eighth minute when Hope Leyba broke past the Kansas defenders and snuck one past Jayhawks goalkeeper Sophie Dawe. The goal was Leyba’s 19th of the season, which is second in all of Division I.

The game was all defense for the next 74 minutes, with Kansas having ample opportunity to tie the match but not cashing in.

That was until Kansas was awarded a corner kick and junior defender Caroline Castans laid the ball perfectly to Gregorski, who headed the ball in to tie the match at 1-1.

“Caroline’s services have been really good this season,” Gregorski said after the game. “I just got to my spot where I was told, Coach (Tiffany Hansen) does a really good job of putting us where our strengths are. She had a really good ball and I just had to hunt it, had to be first to it and I did and it went in.”

But just as quickly as Kansas had finally tied the match up, the Jayhawks found themselves trailing again.

After a yellow card against junior Mackenzie Hammontree in the 86th minute, Colorado was awarded a free kick from just outside the box, and the Buffaloes capitalized on the opportunity. The junior midfielder Kotschau took the free kick and knocked it past Dawe to give them a 2-1 lead.

After the game, Lie expressed frustration about the call that led to the free kick and more broadly about the officiating against the Jayhawks all season.

“Right outside the box, their player goes to ground, gets the ball, Kenz (Hammontree) goes to ground, it didn’t look like there was contact, if it did it looked like it was very minimal — if it was minimal, it didn’t affect the play,” Lie said. “And that’s my frustration, the amount of times this season that we’ve had players clearly fouled in dangerous situations that we have not had PKs reviewed.

“When you go talk to people afterwards, they’re like ‘Oh, that should’ve been a handball, that should’ve been a PK.’ It’s just tough to swallow. To give a team with two minutes left a shot from 19 yards out, when even on replay, in real time, it was hard to see anything, it’s tough to swallow for our players.”

Kansas now turns its attention to postseason play, starting with the Big 12 tournament next week in Fort Worth, Texas. With a record of 6-4-1 in conference games, KU is the No. 7 seed and will face No. 2 West Virginia at 5:30 p.m. on Monday.

photo by: Nathan Friedman/Special to the Journal-World

Kansas forward Saige Wimes looks for an opening into the box during the game against Colorado on Thursday, Oct. 30, 2025, in Lawrence.

photo by: Nathan Friedman/Special to the Journal-World

Kansas midfielder Livvy Moore makes a move past her defender during the game against Colorado on Thursday, Oct. 30, 2025, in Lawrence.

photo by: Nathan Friedman/Special to the Journal-World

Kansas midfielder Livvy Moore plays the ball into the box during the game against Colorado on Thursday, Oct. 30, 2025, in Lawrence.

photo by: Nathan Friedman/Special to the Journal-World

Kansas midfielder Livvy Moore runs up the sideline with the ball during the game against Colorado on Thursday, Oct. 30, 2025, in Lawrence.

photo by: Nathan Friedman/Special to the Journal-World

Kansas forward Saige Wimes stands with her parents during senior night recognition before the game against Colorado on Thursday, Oct. 30, 2025, in Lawrence.

photo by: Nathan Friedman/Special to the Journal-World

Kansas midfielder Mackenzie Hammontree stands for senior night recognition with her parents before the game against Colorado on Thursday, Oct. 30, 2025, in Lawrence.

photo by: Nathan Friedman/Special to the Journal-World

Kansas midfielder Lydia Viets plays the ball up the field during the game against Colorado on Thursday, Oct. 30, 2025, in Lawrence.

photo by: Nathan Friedman/Special to the Journal-World

Kansas midfielder Emika Kawagishi walks out of the tunnel for senior night recognition with her parents before the game against Colorado on Thursday, Oct. 30, 2025, in Lawrence.