Buffs Knocked Out Of MPSF Semifinals By Stanford

STANFORD, Calif. - Colorado had a five-game winning streak snapped as the Buffaloes were eliminated from the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation tournament in the semifinals in an 11-6 loss to No. 9/8 Stanford on Friday night.

"Stanford's a good team," head coach Ann Elliott said. "We knew we had to come out and compete for 60 minutes and we didn't get it done."

The third time was not the charm as CU was eliminated in the semifinals by Stanford for the third consecutive year.

The loss drops the Buffaloes to 13-5 overall and they will be on the bubble for the NCAA Tournament, which will be announced on Sunday, May 8. Stanford, ranked No. 9 in the coaches' poll and No. 8 in the media poll, improved to 14-3. The Cardinal is the No. 2 seed in the tournament and will face top-seeded Southern California, ranked No. 5 and No. 4, respectively, in the championship on Sunday.

CU's chances of a postseason at-large bid will come down to the wire and will depend on automatic bids from other conferences. The latest RPI has the Buffaloes ranked 30th in the nation and 26 teams will be selected to the tournament.

Colorado led 4-3 in the first half, but endured nearly a 42-minute scoreless streak as Stanford took control of the game.

"Stanford's a good defensive team," Elliott said. "You have to score goals to win and they outplayed us on that end."

The Cardinal got on the board first, scoring at 28:03 in the first half.

CU tied the game at 26:31 when Marie Moore had a free-position attempt and instead of shooting, passed to Katie Macleay who cut in front of the goal and scored.

Darby Kiernan gave Colorado a 2-1 lead at 21:22, dodging and spinning from the top of the arc, working her way towards the net for left-handed shot. The Buffs won the ensuing draw, but following a turnover, Stanford quickly scored in transition to tie the game at 20:22.

Stanford scored another quick goal at 19:50 to take a 3-2 lead, but CU answered right back to tie it at 19:14 as Sarah Lautman scored.

The Buffs regained the lead at 4-3 after Moore scored on a free-position shot at 15:41.

After Stanford tied it up at 13:43, both teams went on the defensive for the next 10 minutes. The Buffs were handed a yellow card with 3:56 left in the half and the Cardinal took advantage.

Stanford broke the goalless streak with 3:14 remaining and led 6-4 with another goal at the 2:38 mark, taking advantage of a man-up situation with both scores. That score remained into halftime.

Stanford ended up with a 13-12 shot advantage at the break.

Stanford scored four goals in the first 19 minutes of the second half, stretching its streak to seven unanswered goals to take a 10-4 lead.

Carly Cox broke the 41-minute, 47-second scoring drought with 3:54 remaining in the game, trimming the deficit to 10-5.

Stanford tacked on another goal before Macleay scored with 1:57 remaining for the final margin.

For the game, the Cardinal outshot CU 21-19 and forced 15 Colorado turnovers.

Paige Soenksen made six saves in goal for the Buffaloes. Kelsie Garrison led the defense with a career-high five ground balls.

Kelsey Murray and Dillon Schoen led Stanford with three goals each.

As for making the NCAA Tournament, Elliott says it's completely up in the air right now.

"We honestly don't know," Elliott said. "There's still a week-and-a-half of games for a lot of other schools so we will have to wait and see. We had to get the job done today and get a win and we didn't. As of now, our season's over."

If it is the end of the season for the Buffaloes, it will be remembered as the best season in the program's three-year history. CU set a school record with 13 wins and finished third in the MPSF with a 7-2 conference record and made great strides offensively and defensively. Entering Friday's game, the Buffs had the seventh-best scoring margin in the country and the 10th-best scoring defense.

Lautman is the only senior on the team and the first senior in program history.