As Colorado fans celebrate the Fourth of July this weekend, they can also celebrate what the latest turn of the calendar means for the Buffaloes.

The start of CU’s 2025-26 athletic campaign is just around the corner.

Not only does the Buffs football program kick off the third preseason under head coach Deion Sanders, but a women’s soccer team taking aim at a third consecutive NCAA Tournament holds its first preseason practice July 29.

Head coach Danny Sanchez will embark on his 14th season with the Buffs, having led them to the NCAA Tournament in eight of the previous 13 seasons.

On four occasions the Buffs secured back-to-back NCAA berths, including the current run. The Buffs haven’t reached three consecutive NCAA Tournaments since a run of six appearances in a row ended in 2008.

When practice opens in less than four weeks, CU will be loaded with the talent to make it three in a row once again.

Despite losing all-time leading goal-scorer Shyra James, CU is set to return four of its top five scorers in Hope Leyba (eight goals, two assists), Boulder native Ava Priest (six goals, five assists), Jace Holley (four goals) and Emerson Layne (two goals, two assists).

That list doesn’t include a talented defense led by Jordan Nytes, who has won the Big 12 goalkeeper of the year honor in each of her past two seasons in the league, and junior Faith Leyba, a first-team All-Big 12 selection last year. The Buffs also return play-making midfielder and Legacy High grad Juliauna Hayward.

While Hope Leyba and Priest likely will lead the offense, Sanchez said he expects more production from Layne and Holley, both of whom enjoyed strong spring seasons.

A Fort Collins native, Layne played 63 games (41 starts) over the previous three seasons, collecting eight goals and four assists. Holley, also from Fort Collins, was a Big 12 All-Freshman selection last year.

“We have the obvious players, but I think Emerson Layne had a really good spring,” Sanchez said. “She’s had a solid career, but I think she’s going to have a breakout year this year. Even though Jace Holley was hurt for the first portion of the spring, she really came on well. She’s probably our most versatile player along with Ava. I think that she’s going to have a real breakout sophomore year.

“Obviously we have all the rest of them, but I think those are two players that we envision stepping into even bigger roles this year.”

Notable

Two weeks ago, Faith Leyba and Priest participated in the U.S. Women’s Soccer Talent ID Camp in Atlanta, hosted by U.S. Soccer. … Tyler Long, an incoming freshman with the CU men’s golf team, won the RLX Ralph Lauren Junior Match Play Classic last week. A graduate of Evergreen High School, Long won five of six matches and won 44 holes overall, without losing any in the quarterfinals, semifinals and finals combined. … Twelve different CU student-athletes recently received Academic All-District honors from the College Sports Communicators. The list included six women — Hanna Abrahamsson and Tilde Baangman (skiing); Morgan Miller and Maria Eidhagen (golf); and Madeline Pisani and Teagan Ryan (lacrosse). The men’s honorees included skiers Luka Riley, Jack Reich, Jacob Dilling, Will Koch and Louis Fausa, as well as golfer Jack Holland.