No. 18 Buffs Exact Revenge On No. 16 Trojans

BOULDER – After suffering an overtime loss to No. 16 Southern California on March 16, the Colorado Buffaloes knew they would need to have a strong performance on Friday afternoon. That is exactly what happened. The 16th-ranked Buffs used a 7-1 first half to upend the Trojans (7-6, 5-3 Pac-12), recording the 10-7 upset in snowy and cold conditions at Kittredge Field.

CU (8-4, 5-1 Pac-12) was led by senior attacker Darby Kiernan, who tied her career-high with eight points in the win as she recorded five goals, three on free-position attempts, and three assists.

WHAT HAPPENED: The Buffs scored the first four goals of the game. Freshman Sadie Grozier started things off at 26:41 after a quick pass from Kiernan. Then at 23:09, it was Kiernan's first marker of the day with the helper from senior Carly Cox. Kiernan would score the next two goals, one on a free-position attempt and the other from a Cox assist, to put CU up 4-0 with just under eight minutes played.

The Trojans ended the CU run at 12:44 when Kerrigan Miller notched her first goal of the afternoon, but the Buffs did not take long to respond with Cox recording a goal at 9:26 to give the Buffs a 5-1 advantage. CU would score two more before the half, one from Samantha Nemirov and another from Sophia Castillo for a 7-1 lead.

USC tallied the first four goals of the second half to cut the Buffs' lead to a pair with 17:03 remaining (7-5). CU was not going to let the lead go as Kiernan responded with her fourth goal of the day at 16:03 on another free-position attempt.

One of the most pivotal points in the game was still coming. The Buffs had just committed a turnover on offense and USC was heading down the field. Just after midfield, sophomore Audrey Kingdom picked off a USC pass and led CU down the field. A short time later, she scored her first goal of the season to give CU an 8-5 lead.

If that were not enough, Kiernan would tally her fifth marker of the day 16 seconds later on another free-position attempt. At that point, the Buffs had a comfortable 10-5 lead.

The Trojans scored twice in the final 11 minutes, but the Buffs held on for the 10-7 victory, their first over the Trojans since April 11, 2014.

DRAW DOMINATION: The Buffs dominated the game in draw controls, recording 15 of the 19. Darby Kiernan and Sarah Brown each had seven, while Kelsie Garrison had the other for CU.

OTHER KEY STATS: Colorado's defense played a great game, forcing 11 of USC's 17 turnovers. Junior Olivia Aschman had three caused turnovers, while senior Kelsie Garrison had two. Sophomore Julia Lisella recorded seven saves, four in the first half and three in the second half. The Buffs also had a 27-19 advantage in ground balls. Sophia Castillo and Sarah Brown each had four to lead CU.

NOTABLE:

Two Buffs have scored at least one point in every game this season: Samantha Nemirov and Darby Kiernan.
For the second time this season, Kiernan has recorded a career-high eight points. Her other eight-point performance was on March 9 against Stanford.
The Buffs are 3-4 against ranked teams this season.
The Buffs have now won 15 straight games at Kittredge Field, dating back to the 2016 season. The last time CU lost at Kitt was to USC (9-8) on April 8, 2016.
In total, CU has won 16 home games in that span as the Buffs also hosted Oregon on March 19, 2017, in the Indoor Practice facility.
The 16 home wins is the ninth best home win streak in NCAA history.
The Buffs are a half game behind Stanford (6-1) in the Pac-12 standings. The Cardinal does not have a Pac-12 contest this week, so the Buffs could move into a tie for first-place with SU if they defeat Arizona State on April 8.

TEAM LEADERS:

Colorado

Points: 16

Goals: 10

Assists: 6

Draw Controls: 15

Ground Balls: 27

Saves: 7

Southern California

Points: 8

Goals: 7

Assists: 1

Draw Controls: 4

Ground Balls: 19

Saves: 9

UP NEXT: Colorado will be back in action on Sunday, April 8, at Prentup Field against Arizona State. First draw is at 12 p.m.

QUOTES:
Head Coach Ann Elliott
From slow start against DU to a good start today
"I thought we came out strong defensively. We stuck to the game plan and were offensively aggressive. We really just attacked from the beginning and that's what we talked about all week, and I thought they did a good job in the first half."

On the hurdle on beating USC
"USC is obviously a great team and a team we have struggled with in the past. At the same time, it is a huge conference game for us. We are looking to continue to compete and finish strong down the stretch this year in the second half. It is a huge win for us."

Senior attacker Darby Kiernan
How fired up was the team
"We were just really excited for today and we knew we just had to go into this game with confidence. Coming out strong was our biggest thing and we really did that today and it just feels really good to win."

Redemption after OT loss
"I think the main thing was we just wanted to stick with our game plan this game. We knew we just had to run our plays and not force anything, it was sort of a little bit of redemption, but it feels good just to come out with a solid win."

On beating USC for the first time
"It feels really good. It's really exciting because they are in our conference too, which is awesome, so it feels really good to win."

Important game in terms of conference standings
"This was a real important game but every game is important. I just think we need to take one game at a time and we have to focus on Arizona State this Sunday."

Next Event

Team Stats

Darby Kiernan

Sophie Castillo

Sadie Grozier

Carly Cox

Players Mentioned

Olivia Aschman

Sarah Brown

Sophie Castillo

Carly Cox

Kelsie Garrison

Sadie Grozier

Darby Kiernan

Audrey Kingdom

Julia Lisella

Samantha Nemirov

Players Mentioned

Olivia Aschman

Sarah Brown

Sophie Castillo

Carly Cox

Kelsie Garrison

Sadie Grozier

Darby Kiernan

Audrey Kingdom

Julia Lisella

Samantha Nemirov