Colorado University Athletics
Colorado
11-4, 6-2MPSF
California
3-12, 1-7MPSF
CU Downs Cal 16-4 In Snowstorm Showdown
April 17, 2016 | Lacrosse
BOULDER - Colorado wrapped up its first-ever senior day in lacrosse on Sunday with a 16-4 victory over California in the midst of a snowstorm in Boulder.
CU continued its recent dominance with its third consecutive win by a double-digit margin to improve to 11-4 overall and 6-2 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation. The Buffaloes have now matched the win totals from their first two seasons after going 11-8 two years ago in their inaugural season and 11-7 last year. Cal dropped to 3-12 and 1-7.
It was the first win in three tries against California in the young history of the CU program.
"It's great to get a conference win," head coach Ann Elliott said. "We came out here knowing we're 0-2 [against Cal] and knowing we have a lot to prove and we wanted to come out and play hard and do everything in our control to put us in the best position as we continue working our way to a conference tournament."
The lone senior for Colorado, Sarah Lautman, scored two goals in her final home game at Kittredge Field. Lautman joined the team as a sophomore in 2014 after spending two years on CU's club lacrosse team.
"Sarah came out, as she does every game, ready to play and compete," Elliott said. "As I told the team before, this isn't Sarah's last game. The only thing we can do is obviously keep working hard and winning to make sure her season's as long as it can be this year."
Sophomore Darby Kiernan scored a game-high four goals and had two assists for six points. Miranda Stinson and Johnna Fusco each found the goal three times and Marie Moore also scored twice.
Things didn't start great for CU as the Golden Bears scored less than two minutes into the game to take an early lead. Fusco and Moore then scored to put the Buffs in front 2-1 with 21:50 left in the first half before Cal tied it at 2-2 with 19:37 left.
It was all Colorado from there on as CU scored the next four goals, including two from Kiernan, and also scored twice in the final 13 seconds of the first half for an 8-3 lead. Lautman scored her first goal of the game with three seconds left in the half after Moore won the draw following a Fusco score and pushed the ball to Stinson, who found Lautman in transition.
CU scored the first five goals of the second half to build a 13-3 lead with Kiernan again scoring twice during the run.
Stinson netted her third goal of the game at the 14:59 mark, giving her a season-high four points with her assist on Lautman's goal in the first half.
Lautman scored in the final seconds of the second half for her second goal to close out the game.
CU outshot Cal 33-8 and forced 20 turnovers, while committing just nine. Amanda Salvadore had a team-high three caused turnovers. Kelsie Garrison had three ground balls and Paige Soenksen made two saves to lead the defense.
In addition to Kiernan's team highs in goals and assists, she also led the Buffs with nine shot attempts and four draw controls.
Lautman was proud of the team's effort on Sunday.
" I think it was really fun, obviously," Lautman said. "I think playing in the snow is a lot of fun, but I know a lot of people think it's too cold. I'm really proud of my team coming out hard and it's the first time we beat Cal so that's good. It was a really great game all the way around. Our team really worked hard both first and second half."
Cal's Jena Fritts led the Golden Bears with three goals.
Colorado will wrap up the regular season on Sunday at Oregon at 11 a.m. PT. The Buffaloes will be looking for their program-best 12th win.
Postgame Quotes
Ann Elliott, head coach
General
"It's great to get a conference win. We came out here knowing we're 0-2 [against Cal] and knowing we have a lot to prove and we wanted to come out and play hard and do everything in our control to put us in the best position as we continue working our way to a conference tournament."
On Gaining Confidence From Win
"Every game as we try to get better gives us a little bit more confidence. There are still things we've got to work on, but we know now we have one more game to play on Sunday and we'll start shifting our focus to that."
On Play Of Lone Senior Sarah Lautman
"Sarah came out, as she does every game, ready to play and compete. As I told the team before, this isn't Sarah's last game. The only thing we can do is obviously keep working hard and winning to make sure her season's as long as it can be this year."
Sarah Lautman, midfielder, senior
On senior day
" I think it was really fun, obviously. I think playing in the snow is a lot of fun, but I know a lot of people think it's too cold. I'm really proud of my team coming out hard and it's the first time we beat Cal so that's good. It was a really great game all the way around. Our team really worked hard both first and second half."
On being the first senior
"It feels pretty cool, I mean it's a little weird that I'm the first one leaving because we've never had anyone leave before. I think our team played really hard today. Maybe because it's our last home game of the season and we wanted to come out hard on our home field.
On building a program
"It's been an amazing ride. It's been one of the best experiences of my life and the best three years. I'm sad it's ending but it's been amazing."Â Â Â
