Colorado University Athletics
Colorado
5-3
UMass Lowell
0-10
Buffs Start Fast, Defeat UMass Lowell 17-7
March 27, 2015 | Lacrosse
LOWELL, Mass. – The University of Colorado lacrosse team closed out its three-game road trip in dominating fashion, defeating the UMass Lowell River Hawks 17-7 here Friday afternoon.
“We've been on the road for a while,” said Colorado head coach Ann Elliott. “We wanted to come out today and finish strong. We talked a lot about doing the little things, like we always talk about. We really wanted to focus on that today- draw controls, ground balls, beating people down the field, through the midfield. Really, just playing a little bit more as a team than we did in the last game.
I told our girls they did a pretty good job of coming out and playing aggressive. I think it's something we can continue to improve on as we progress through the season of just playing together and playing aggressive for a full 60 minutes. I thought we did a good job today and we're excited to end our road trip with another win.”
UMass Lowell, in its first year as a Division I program was pressured early and often by the Buffaloes allowing CU to take a 5-0 advantage right out of the gate as CU outscored the River Hawks 12-2 in the first half.
Four of the seven Buffs to score tallied a hat trick in the game. Colorado was led on offense by freshman Darby Kiernan, who had four goals in a single game for a second time this season. Sophomores Katie Macleay and Johnna Fusco, and freshman Blair Sisk each had three goals. Amanda Salvadore scored two, and Cali Castagnola along with Marie Moore each found the back of the net once.
Macleay and Moore scored back-to-back goals less than three minutes into the contest, jumpstarting CU's attack and then only three minutes later, Macleay would strike again for her second tally of the game. Sisk was awarded a free position attempt and instead of taking the shot, she made a quick pass to Macleay who put it past UMass Lowell goalkeeper Courtney Barrett, making it 3-0. Fusco, who had at least one goal in every game this season coming into Friday's contest, extended her scoring streak to eight straight at the 22:35 mark and Salvadore netted her first of the year to give Colorado its five goal lead.
UMass Lowell's Emily Wright put the River Hawks on the board nearly halfway through the first period, but they would only score one more goal before halftime. The River Hawks turned the ball over 10 times in the first period and CU only allowed four shots on goal.
After the River Hawks' goal, Colorado went on a 7-1 run to close out the half. Fusco scored two more times to put her hat trick in hand. Kiernan and Sisk also had a pair of goals during that run.
With the Buffs in the driver's seat, holding a 10 goal advantage at the break, goalkeeper Sophia Gambitsky saw action in her second game this season, replacing Paige Soenksen to start the second half.
UMass Lowell scored three straight goals after halftime, to make it 12-5, but CU's offense proved to be too much down the stretch. The Buffaloes responded with five straight goals. Sisk scored her third of the game, while Kiernan punched in another pair. Macleay and Salvadore each added on more as well.
The River Hawks were able to put two past freshman goalkeeper Annee O'Connor who replaced Gambitsky with 6:51 remaining, but it was too little, too late as UMass Lowell fell to 0-10 in its inaugural season.
Colorado finishes the road trip with a 2-1 record and improves to 5-3 overall this season. The Buffs return home after being away for the past seven days and look forward to preparing for the remainder of its conference schedule. CU opened its season against Mountain Pacific Sports Federation opponent Denver on February 11, but hasn't played a conference game since.
“Our girls are excited,” said Elliott. “They know how important conference games are for us in terms of being successful this season. We want to make our conference tournament and you have to approach each conference game one at a time so we'll have a day off and then start focusing in on UC Davis and preparing for them, and the big weekend ahead.”
The Buffs will look for their first conference win of the year when they host UC Davis on Friday, April 3 at 3 p.m.
