Jays soccer had made it to the NCAA tournament for 17 straight years — until yesterday. This year marks the first time since 1991 the Jays won’t be continuing on in the postseason. The streak is the fourth-longest in the nation, behind Virginia, Indiana and UCLA, all of whom are still active.

Broken streaks, in any sport, are tough to deal with, although they happen all the time. Complacency may be a factor some of the time, but it also seems to me that the longer a streak lasts, the more pressure there is to keep it up. Although the players have told me they feel pressure every year to maintain CU soccer’s excellence, maybe this year it finally got to them just a little bit.

Second chances, of course, are also prevalent in sports. It will take a long, long time to rebuild a streak like that one. But maybe starting off with a clean slate next year will give the Jays just the boost they need to go farther than they’ve gone before. Creighton soccer has never won a national championship. Maybe that’s a streak that needs snapping soon.