Colorado
2-2
Northwestern
4-2
Buffs Fight Hard, Fall 14-8 At Northwestern
March 07, 2015 | Lacrosse
EVANSTON, Ill. – The University of Colorado lacrosse team played its first road game of the season on Saturday afternoon, falling 14-8 to the seventh-ranked Northwestern Wildcats at Lakeside Field.
The game proved to be a tale of two halves for the Buffaloes. Colorado (2-2) showed to be the more dominant team in the first 30 minutes of play, jumping out to a 3-1 lead early on; however Northwestern came out with a different kind of energy in the second half and outscored the Buffs 10-4 to secure the victory.
“Having the opportunity to come to Evanston and play a top ranked team in Northwestern is exciting for us,” said Colorado head coach Ann Elliott. “I thought our girls were fired up. We came out playing hard and aggressive. I think we did a lot of things well, but overall we had trouble again in the second half and we're having trouble putting together a full 60 minutes and that's something we have to work on.”
After an early Northwestern goal, Colorado reeled off three straight to take a 3-1 advantage. Freshman Blair Sisk continues to make a statement in her debut season as she scored her first of two goals on the day, putting Colorado on the board at the 22:38 mark. Sisk earned a free position attempt and drilled home her shot to tie the game at 1-1.
Sophomore Johnna Fusco scored her 12th goal of the year six minutes later to give CU its first lead at 2-1, also off a free position shot and then freshman Carly Cox put one past NU goalkeeper Bridget Bianco to extend the Buffs' lead by two.
Northwestern added back-to-back goals to tie the contest at three all, and each team would score once more before halftime. The Wildcats' leading scorer, Selena Lasota, was held in check during much of the first half as the Buffaloes' defense only allowed Lasota to find the back of the net two times.
The Buffs went up 6-5 after Sisk notched her sixth goal of the season seven minutes into the second frame, but that would be the last lead CU would hold the rest of the day. Northwestern controlled possession in the final 30 minutes, winning the draws 13-2, and outshooting Colorado 24-7 as the Wildcats made it difficult for the Buffs to create any kind of rhythm on the offensive end.
“Overall in the game we had trouble winning the draws,” said Elliott. “When you play a good team, just having possession of the ball is a big thing. In the second half we barely could come up with any draw controls and it cost us. We were on defense a lot more and Northwestern started executing. Their offense is hard to stop. They have a lot of players that can do a lot of different things, playing different positions, making plays and that's tough when you're always on defense trying to stop them.”
The Wildcats' execution came in the form of six straight goals in a 10 minute period, resulting in an 11-6 advantage. Lasota shifted into a higher gear, accounting for three of those goals bringing her total to 23 on the season.
Colorado, facing a five goal deficit kept fighting and Fusco was able to break through to make it 11-7, but Northwestern responded again when Corinne Wessels assisted on three straight.
Fusco would add another goal late, to record her fourth straight game with a hat trick before the horn sounded. Fusco leads the Buffs with 14 goals this season.
“I think all of our kids worked hard offensively and I think toward the end of the game Johnna got a couple of goals for us and they were really just because she wanted it,” Elliott said. “She wanted to take advantage of one-on-one opportunities, which our offense talked about all week is you have to beat people one-on-one. Johnna got some openings, our kids did a good job of clearing space and Johnna was able to put the ball away. She's a competitor. You know she's going to come out and give it all she has.”
The Buffs move to 2-2 on the season and 0-1 on the road.
“Northwestern, they're just a great team, so to have the opportunity to play against a team of that caliber and see what our girls can do, at the end of the day we're going to learn from it and we're going to be better for it, whether we win the game or lose it,” Elliott said. “We're looking forward to getting back to Boulder and trying to get better and learn from the things that we didn't do too well today.”
Colorado has a little over a week off before they return to the field on Tuesday, March 17 to host New Hampshire at Kittredge Field. First draw is set for 3 p.m. MT and the game will be televised on the Pac-12 Networks.
