Colorado
6-3,1-1MPSF
UC Davis
1-8,0-1MPSF
Big Second Half Gives Buffs MPSF Win
April 03, 2015 | Lacrosse
BOULDER – The University of Colorado lacrosse team earned its first Mountain Pacific Sports Federation win of the season on Friday afternoon, defeating the UC Davis Aggies 13-5 at Kittredge Field.
The Buffaloes led the entire game and used a strong second-half to pull away from the Aggies. Colorado held a 5-2 advantage at halftime and then scored seven unanswered goals to open the second period, making it 12-2. Sophomore Johnna Fusco anchored the Buffs' attack, notching four goals. It was her fourth four-goal performance this season and seventh game with a hat trick. Sophomore, co-captain Marie Moore, and freshmen Darby Kiernan and Blair Sisk each tallied a pair.
“It feels good,” said Colorado head coach Ann Elliott on winning its first conference game of the team's 2015 campaign. “As we just told our girls, 'it's about winning and competing in your conference.'”
Colorado improves to 6-3 overall and 1-1 in MPSF play. The Aggies fall to 1-8 on the season and 0-1 against conference opponents.
The Aggies won the draw control battle 14-6, including 7-1 in the first half, but the Buffs took care of business on offense, where they outshot their opponent 31-13 and went 6 for 8 on free position shots.
The Buffs already established an early 3-0 to begin the game before UC Davis scored its first goal off a free position shot by Elizabeth Landry. Landry recorded the one goal and had a team-leading two assists for the Aggies.
With the score now 3-1, Fusco capitalized on a man-up opportunity for CU with a shot from the 8-meter mark. Fusco was 2-3 on free position tries and extended her scoring streak to nine straight games.
UC Davis' Melissa Kellan responded with her first of a team-leading four goals to bring the Aggies back within two, but the Buffs dominated from that point forward as Colorado went on a 9-0 run to put the game out of reach.
Sophomore Amanda Salvadore started the second half-surge for the Buffs at the 22:49 mark. She scored her third goal of the year after earning a free position attempt. Less than two minutes later, Fusco followed with an unassisted tally and Sisk and Moore would each add one to give CU a 9-2 lead.
The Aggies made a switch at goalkeeper after Moore scored. Lauren Ali replaced Kai Murphy, but Colorado was still able to execute on the attack. Moore put away her second of the game and Kiernan scored back-to-back goals, which led to the 10 goal advantage at 12-2.
Kellan recorded UC Davis' final three goals, but they didn't come until just over five minutes left in the game and by that time Colorado's lead was too much for the Aggies to overcome as CU moved to 2-0 all-time against them.
The Buffs' strong showing on offense was coupled with stellar play on defense, which forced eight of UC Davis' 21 turnovers. Sophomore goalkeeper Paige Soenksen turned in another solid performance between the posts, making seven saves to earn her sixth win of the year. The Encinitas, Calif. native was quick to credit her teammates on helping get the job done on Friday.
“I think our defense as a whole performed very well,” said Soenksen. “They forced UCD to make low angle shots so I could make some saves. I feel confident with our defense in front of me…they get a lot of knock downs and interceptions, which makes my job very easy.”
Colorado now shifts its focus to No. 13 Stanford who comes to town on Sunday to close out the weekend. The Buffs are looking for their first win in program history against the Cardinal after falling to them twice last season, something that Elliott says doesn't garner very much attention as CU continues to emphasize getting better this year and not get too caught up in the results of their previous meetings.
“We're not focused too much on last season,” Elliott said. “We know Stanford is a good team. I think they're a better team this year than they were last year. They're athletic, they're fast. They have a lot of weapons. I think we're a different team, too. We're hoping to compete better than we did last year. I think we should be able to do that through the midfield as well as offensively and defensively. We know it's going to take everything that we have on Sunday.”
The first draw is set for 12 p.m. MT and the game will be televised on the Pac-12 Network.
