Colorado Pounds Oregon In First Round of MPSF Tourney

STANFORD, Calif. - Colorado dominated defensively for 60 minutes on Thursday in an 11-3 win over Oregon in the quarterfinals of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation conference tournament at Stanford.

CU improved to 13-4 this season, a program-best record, and will face No. 9/8 Stanford at 7 p.m. PT/8 p.m. MT on Friday. CU is the No. 3 seed and Stanford is the No. 2 seed.

The win came just four days after the Buffaloes defeated Oregon 14-9 in Eugene, Ore., to end the regular season.

"We knew coming out here we had to show up and perform for 60 minutes or that would be the end [of our season]," head coach Ann Elliott said. "The girls did a good job competing. Defensively, we improved from Sunday and we did a good job throughout. We 're excited to play again on Friday against Stanford."

Cali Castagnola led CU with three goals off the bench, and Carly Cox and Johnna Fusco each scored twice.

Oregon was very aggressive on defense, pressuring the length of the field early on. The Buffs were finally able to exploit the aggressive defense at 22:35 when Castagnola scored the first goal of the game.

"Oregon is so dangerous defensively because they play so many ways--they came out in a double faceguard, then played zone, then man-to-man," Elliott said. "It took a little while to adjust and get into a rhythm and once we did, we did a good job finishing. We will need to be prepared for that again tomorrow because Stanford can beat you different ways too."

Following a save by Paige Soenksen, CU marched right down the field and scored in transition as Cox scored at 20:39. She scored again one minute later to put CU in front 3-0 and force an Oregon timeout.

Castagnola broke a nearly nine-minute scoring drought with a goal at 10:44 off a free-position shot, coming from the right side of the goal across to the left before shooting. Just one minute later, it was Sarah Lautman's turn with a goal off a free-position shot as CU built a 5-0 lead.

With 2:58 remaining in the half, Fusco scored for CU. Oregon finally got on the board with 37.6 seconds left as CU went into halftime with a 6-1 lead.

Soenksen made five saves in the first half as Colorado outshot Oregon 15-8. Four of CU's six first-half turnovers came in the first 10 minutes.

CU started the second half slowly offensively and Oregon was the first on the board in the second half, scoring with 22:23 remaining and leading to a CU timeout.

Fusco broke the scoring drought, running from behind the goal and shooting from in front of the net at 17:37 to give the Buffs a 7-2 lead.

With Fusco's goal, Colorado went on to score four goals in a span of 91 seconds. Castagnola netted her first hat trick since March 27 at the 16:59 mark. Kelsie Garrison then scored her first career goal at 16:30, pushing forward from the midfield zone after a foul on the ensuing draw. Katie Macleay capped the scoring run 24 seconds later.

Colorado maintained possession for the final 6:40, scoring a goal with 1:55 remaining by Tori Link after Oregon pulled its goalkeeper, and winning the ensuing draw.

Soenksen had one of the most efficient games of her career with nine saves on 12 shots on goal faced. Her defense helped force Oregon into 12 turnovers. CU outshot the Ducks 25-16 in the game.

"[Defense] was definitely a topic for us all week," Elliott said. "Watching film from Sunday, they knew they had to do a better job. They came ready and I think [the defenders] had a chip on their shoulder from hearing it all week [from the coaching staff]. Our defense forced some tough shots and Paige came up big and we needed that to get the win."

Darby Kiernan was held scoreless for the first time in 13 games, but was key for CU in the draw circle, helping the Buffaloes win 12 of 18 draws with a team-high three draw controls.