Colorado
8-2, 3-0
UC Davis
3-4, 1-1
CU Recovers From Slow Start For 14-3 Win At UC Davis
April 02, 2016 | Lacrosse
DAVIS, Calif. - Colorado's lacrosse team recovered from a slow start to beat UC Davis 14-3 on Friday on the road as the Buffaloes resumed conference play. They improved to 8-2 overall and 3-0 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation after a stretch of seven straight non-conference games. UC Davis dropped to 3-4 overall and 1-1 in the MPSF.
CU rallied from a 3-2 deficit late in the first half to score the final 12 goals of the game.
"Honestly UC Davis, they're a good team," head coach Ann Elliott said. "They're well-coached. They played extremely hard. I don't think we came out doing the little things. We had unforced turnovers in the beginning and we got frustrated and quite frankly got out-played. But our kids were able to turn it around."
Johnna Fusco and Carly Cox each scored three goals in the game. Marie Moore had a pair of scores and an assist on another for four points.
CU was uncharacteristically penalized with three yellow cards in the first half, causing the team to play down a man each time and slowing the momentum. Colorado had just 10 yellow cards through the first nine games.
Down 2-0, the Buffs looked to be taking control with consecutive goals by Miranda Stinson and Fusco with over 20 minutes to go. But UC Davis continued to play a tough first half, taking a 3-2 lead with 8:20 left.
It wasn't until 5:41 of the first half that CU tied it up on another goal by Fusco. The Buffs took the lead for good with 39 seconds left in the half on the first goal of the game by Cox and Amanda Salvadore scored with one second remaining in the half for a 5-3 halftime lead.
"It just started clicking for us offensively and defensively," Moore said of the momentum shift late in the half. "It was tough for us when we were down a man a couple times. Creating opportunities was challenging in those situations."
Colorado outscored UCD 9-0 in the second half behind a strong performance in goal by Paige Soenksen, who made eight saves in the game. Tori Link scored her first goal of the season at the 5:54 mark and Darby Kiernan, Sarah Lautman and Sophia Castillo scored their only goals of the game in the second half as well.
"I think our offense is good because we rely on all seven people down there," Moore said. "It's not just one person; it's all seven. We create space and work together well and dodge hard to create opportunities for each other."
The Buffaloes dominated possession in the second half with six draw controls and forced five UCD turnovers.
CU outshot the Aggies 35-14 in the game, their second-highest shots total in school history. The Buffaloes also had 31 shots on goal.
Moore had team highs of five draw controls and four ground balls, while tying for the team lead with Kiernan with two caused turnovers. Sarah Brown was also active on defense and in the midfield with three draw controls, three ground balls and one caused turnover.
"I think offensively, we were a little slow in the beginning," Elliott said. "We have to run by people and dodge hard. Their goalie (Lauren Ali) played really well with 17 saves, but we need to finish our shots. We need to use our speed and those are things we need to continue to work on."
The Buffs will face their third ranked opponent of the season on Sunday when they travel to No. 12/10 Stanford for a 12 p.m. PT game.
