Colorado
11-7
Stanford
14-2
Buffs Fall To Stanford In MPSF Semifinals, 16-5
May 01, 2015 | Lacrosse
DENVER – The University of Colorado lacrosse team's season came to an end here Friday afternoon, falling to No. 15 Stanford, 16-5, in the semifinals of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Tournament.
“I think it's tough overall and it hurts for all of us,” said Colorado head coach Ann Elliott. “We came out here thinking we could compete and compete better than we did today. Stanford is a good team. They are so athletic, they have so much speed. They have gotten better every day since we last played them. It was a tough game for us, but I think for our kids, we have to learn to see the season as a whole. We did a lot better. We made so much progress.”
The Buffs finished with its second consecutive 11-win season posting an 11-7 record and went 5-4 in MPSF play. Stanford improves to 14-2 and advances to its 12th straight MPSF Tournament Championship.
Once the game got started after an hour delay due to lightning in the area, the Cardinal came out firing, taking an early 1-0 lead just 11 seconds in as Stanford's Alexandra Crerend won the draw control and made one pass to midfielder Kelly Myers who put it past CU goalkeeper Paige Soenksen. Midfielder Heather Farr added one more to go up 2-0 and then Colorado responded with its first goal as sophomore Johnna Fusco scored on a free-position opportunity.
After two more Stanford goals and a tally from CU sophomore Katie Macleay, the Cardinal defense settled in and its offense took over as it built a 10 goal lead by halftime. Stanford pressured Colorado every time the Buffs had the ball, forcing them into long passes and made it difficult for CU to move up and down the field. The Cardinal caused nine of the Buffs 19 turnovers in the game and held CU to only two goals in the first half.
“We watched Stanford a lot,” said Elliott. “We knew they were dangerous off the draw, especially on a smaller field. They're quick and they're going to get down the field quick. I don't think the initial part (Stanford's fast start) was a shock, but we needed to do a better job rebounding from it and respond with something of our own. We had trouble on the draws, which didn't allow us too many opportunities to do that.”
Colorado finished with nine draw controls to Stanford's 14 and the Cardinal won possession on 11 of the 15 opportunities in the first half, putting the Buffs in a tough position to establish any sort of attack.
Myers led Stanford and all-scorers with six goals. The Cardinal also got a pair of goals from Lucy Dikeou, Crerend and Mackenzie Tesei. Freshman Darby Kiernan was the top-scorer for CU, tallying two as she finished the year with 52 goals, a single-season program record.
With the Buffs facing a 12-2 deficit at halftime, they played stronger in the second half, holding Stanford to only four goals and out-dueling them on the draw, 5-3, but unfortunately the deficit was too much to overcome as Colorado was only able to score three more times on seven shots.
“Stanford is a great team,” said Macleay who concluded the 2015 campaign with a career-high 22 for the season. “We played really well in the second half. We picked up the energy and our passion was there, but as I said Stanford is a good team and I give them that.”
Soenksen faced 29 shots on goal, making 13 saves. Stanford goalkeeper Allie DaCar made five saves in 48 minutes, only surrendering the two CU tallies in the first half. Katie Wiseman replaced DaCar to close out the game and allowed CU's three goals over the final four minutes.
“This game might not have shown it the way we wanted to, but on the whole we have a lot to be proud of and we also have a lot to work on to get better, hopefully we'll get another opportunity next year, to be back here and get to play in the conference tournament again,” added Elliott.
In its young two-year history, the Buffs have compiled an impressive 22-15 record and is 2-2 overall in the postseason, making an appearance in the MPSF semifinals in both seasons as a Division I program.
“I feel good about where we're at,” Elliott said. “We always want more and like I told the kids, we stepped out here believing we were going to win and that hurts. And if it hurts, it means you care, it means you're going to get better. You're going to do the right things and we're on the right track. We just have to keep pushing to get better and compete a little bit more at a higher level.”
The conference tournament concludes on Sunday, May 1 with the championship game between No 1. seed Stanford and No. 2 seed Southern California at 11 a.m. at Peter Barton Stadium on the University of Denver campus.
