Colorado
6-2
Northwestern
4-4
No. 7 Northwestern Pulls Away Late To Hold Off CU
March 25, 2016 | Lacrosse
EVANSTON, Ill. - No. 7/15 Northwestern scored four goals in the final 5:06 to pull away and hold off Colorado's upset bid with an 11-6 win over the Buffaloes in Evanston, Ill. The loss snapped CU's four-game winning streak and dropped the Buffaloes to 6-2 on the season.
Colorado was seeking its first-ever win over a nationally-ranked opponent in the third year of its program.
"Obviously Northwestern is a great team and we knew it was going to take 60 minutes to come out here and win," head coach Ann Elliott said. "We obviously fell short in that regard. In the second half, we responded and competed and played hard, but couldn't finish in the end. I give a lot of credit to Northwestern for really playing well for the full 60 minutes."
Elliott spent eight years at Northwestern, four as a player and four as an assistant coach. The Wildcats won six national titles during that time prior to her arriving in Boulder.
Darby Kiernan scored twice and Katie Macleay had a goal and two assists as the Buffs matched up well with the Wildcats for much of the game. CU outshot Northwestern 23-to-21 and forced NU into 14 turnovers, while committing just 11. But the Wildcats won the game in the draw circle, controlling 15 of the 19 draws.
"They dominated us in draw controls and in the first half that gave us some trouble," Elliott said. "Other than that I think we competed well [against an established program]."
Cali Castagnola gave CU a 1-0 lead just over four minutes into the game, but the Wildcats scored three straight to take a 3-1 lead. Johnna Fusco briefly cut the deficit to one goal with a score at 14:56.
Down 5-2 in the first half, back-to-back goals by Kiernan and Marie Moore brought the Buffs back within a goal at 5-4 with 8:41 to go before halftime, but two more Northwestern goals made the halftime score 7-4.
It was all CU early in the second half. The Buffs put seven shots on goal in the first 12 minutes of the second half, but Northwestern goalkeeper Mallory Weisse was up to the task, turning away all seven would-be goals.
Macleay finally broke the goal line with 17:21 remaining, cutting Northwestern's lead to 7-5. Kiernan brought the Buffs within one goal at 7-6 with 8:20 to play in the game, but that was as close as CU would get. Northwestern score four times in the final 5:06 to pull away.
While not satisfied with the loss, Elliott was pleased with her team's persistence after trailing by three goals at halftime.
"As a team from the first year of our program, we've prided ourselves on never giving up," Elliott said. "At halftime we knew we were going to have to fight back and claw back. We responded well in the second half and stayed persistent. Their goalie made some great saves and we continued to battle."
Moore finished with team highs of four ground balls and two draw controls for the Buffs. Paige Soenksen made seven saves in the game.
Selena Lasota led Northwestern with three goals and Weisse finished with 10 saves.
The Buffaloes will be back in action on Sunday at Michigan at 1 p.m. ET.
