A prolonged scoring slump at the absolute worst time of the season has altered the complexion of the campaign for the Colorado women’s soccer team.

At least the Buffaloes can go into the first phase of the postseason with the knowledge they aren’t giving games away and are only a play or two away from turning things around.

Still, the frustrations continued for CU on Friday night, as the Buffs battled to a scoreless draw against Utah in the regular-season finale at Prentup Field. The result extended CU’s winless streak to six games (0-2-4), tying the fifth-longest winless streak in program history. It was the fourth consecutive game in which the Buffs have been shut out, marking the first time since 2017 the Buffs have gone four straight games without a goal.

Three of the past four games have ended in scoreless draws, and the Buffs (10-3-5, 4-2-5 Big 12) have played 377 minutes, 22 seconds since scoring their last goal on Oct. 10 at Texas Tech. They will take that streak into the Big 12 Conference tournament, which begins Wednesday in Kansas City.

CU’s all-time leading goal-scorer Shyra James, who leads the team with six goals, returned to the starting lineup for the first time since Sept. 12, but it wasn’t enough to snap the Buffs out of their scoring funk.

“They have to continue to believe,” CU head coach Danny Sanchez said. “But the great part of being in the Big 12 is now we have a second season. We have an opportunity with whoever we’re going to play next Wednesday to continue to work on this and rectify it. But I was really pleased with how we played tonight, especially in the second half.”

CU enjoyed a couple of prime chances in the first 10 minutes, then had another opportunity late in the 76th minute when a corner kick rolled across the Utah goal crease, but the Buffs couldn’t push any of their six shots on goal past Utah goalie Kasey Wardle.

Colorado goalie Jordan Nytes allowed the Buffs to stay out of the loss column, recording 10 saves to post her 11th shutout of the season and the 19th of her CU career. Nytes moved into a tie for second with Kate Scheele among CU’s season shutout leaders and is now tied for fourth among the program’s all-time leaders.

“I feel like this compared to West Virginia last Sunday (a 2-0 loss) is night and day,” Sanchez said. “We played well. And it’s a bit of a broken record. When we don’t play well, I say we don’t play well. But we played well.”

Notable

The Buffs honored nine departing seniors prior to the game: James, Rachel Rosen, Phoenix Dawn Miranda, Jenny Beyer, Lindsey Smith, Hannah Duguid, Lola Stanley, Laura Gouvin and Michaela Rosenbaum. … Former CU All-American and program all-time points leader Taylor Kornieck (now Taylor Flint) attended the game. Flint plays for the NWSL’s Racing Louisville FC. … CU remained unbeaten in its past six matches against Utah (3-0-3). … Friday’s attendance of 1,904 was a season-high and left the Buffs with an average home attendance of 1,140 in 11 games. Last year, the first with regular night games under the new lights at Prentup, CU averaged 970 fans in 12 games.