The Colorado women’s soccer team couldn’t have scripted a better start to its top-25 battle at home against TCU.

Yet as it turned out, matters unraveled in a hurry for the Buffaloes.

The 14th-ranked Buffs picked a bad time for their worst effort of the season, as No. 23 TCU quickly answered CU’s opening tally before burying the Buffs with a 6-1 decision on Saturday afternoon at Prentup Field.

CU got on the board just 88 seconds into the contest, but TCU soon scored three times in a span of 2 minutes, 41 seconds to end the Buffs’ 10-game unbeaten streak while also handing CU (10-2-1, 4-1-1) its first defeat in Big 12 play.

TCU’s Seven Castain became the third opposing player ever to score four goals against the Buffs, but she became the first foe to do it at Prentup Field. Washington State’s Morgan Weaver scored four goals against CU at WSU in 2019, as did BYU’s Shauna Rohboack in Provo in 1998. Castain also recorded an assist to become the first opposing player to post nine points in a match against CU.

TCU’s six goals tied for the third-most allowed by CU at home in team history. The Buffs had surrendered just three goals during the entire 10-game unbeaten streak.

“Like I just told the team, I don’t think myself and the coaching staff prepared well enough for this game,” CU head coach Danny Sanchez said in a news release. “We knew TCU was a quality team. We got the early goal, and we just didn’t build any momentum off it.

“We hadn’t scored early all year. It was great to get that, but like I said, we didn’t follow up with momentum. We gave them two goals in the next four minutes. I think we hung our heads and it was still a game with 85 minutes left. I told the team at halftime those were the moments you have to get through.”

It indeed was a fast start for the Buffs, as defender Faith Leyba headed a free kick back across the goal crease that Emerson Layne punched home to give the hosts a quick 1-0 lead. The advantage didn’t last long.

TCU (9-2-2, 4-0-2 Big 12) answered less than two minutes later, as a defensive breakdown led to the Horned Frogs’ Oli Pena finding AJ Hennessey for an easy conversion. A handball against CU led to a TCU penalty kick and the first goal for Castain, and Castain helped give the Horned Frogs a 3-1 lead just 37 seconds later with an assist on a Bella Diorio goal.

Castain scored two more goals before halftime, giving TCU a 5-1 lead at the break, and she capped the scoring in the 55th minute. Pena finished with three assists, becoming just the fourth opposing player to reach that total against the Buffs and the first since the CU program’s inaugural season of 1996.

The Buffs again played without leading scorer Shyra James, who was sidelined for the fifth time in the past seven games due to an injury. James returned to the lineup last week after missing consecutive games and scored CU’s lone goal in a home draw against Baylor, but suffered a separate injury late in that match that has now kept her out of two consecutive games.

The Buffs will attempt to get back on track when they visit Texas Tech on Thursday (6 p.m. MT, ESPN+).

“At the end of the day, it’s one game,” Sanchez said. “We had a long unbeaten streak. This only counts for one game. Now, it’s about turning our attention to Texas Tech on Thursday.”