Buffs Earn Third Straight Win To Start Season

DELAND, Fla. — Stetson was no match for No. 14 Colorado as the Buffs easily cruised to a 22-3 victory against the Hatters, earning their third straight win to start the season.

WHAT HAPPENED: Colorado (3-0) recorded six goals in the first five minutes to put the game out of reach for Stetson (0-2).

Senior Katie Macleay got the scoring started for the Buffs just over a minute into the game (28:51) off a pass by Darby Kiernan. At 27:12, junior Sarah Brown tallied the Buffs' second goal. Sophomore Samantha Nemirov got a goal at 26:41 and 20 seconds later, senior Cali Castagnola found the back of the net. Macleay earned her second goal of the day at 26:08 with an assist from senior Marie Moore, who short time later had her first of three goals (25:36).

The Hatters finally got on the board with 19:39 left in the first half, but were unable to get past CU's strong defense for the rest of the period. The defense was so good that senior Paige Soenksen only faced two shots in the half.

Colorado made a change a goalkeeper to start the second half, putting senior Sophia Gambitsky in for the first time this season. She made four saves while allowing two goals.

CU scored 15 goals in the first half alone and added another seven in the second half. Thirteen different Buffs scored goals in the win. Moore, senior Emily Knapp and sophomore Sophia Castillo each tallied a hat-trick, while Macleay, Castagnola and senior Johnna Fusco recorded two goals each.

The Buffs dominated on draw controls and were led by Kiernan's MPSF record of 19. The 19 draw controls is also tied for fifth in the NCAA record book. Only two other players in NCAA history have recorded 19 or more draw controls: Jessica Karwacki (24, 21, 20- twice) and Kayla Treanor (19).

As a team, CU won 25 of 27 draws, breaking a CU single-game record.

KEY STATISTIC: Colorado dominated in every aspect of the game. The Buffs had 35 shots in the game, 21 in the first half and another 14 in the second half. CU picked up 17 ground balls to SU's 15. The Buffs also cleared well (13-16), compared to the Hatter's 9-13. The Buffs connected on 6-of-8 free position shots, while Stetson went 0-1.

TEAM LEADERS:

Colorado
Points: 32
Goals: 22
Assists: 10
Draw Controls: 25
Ground Balls: 17
Saves: 5

Stetson
Points: 5
Goals: 3
Assists: 2
Draw Controls: 2
Ground Balls: 15
Saves: 7

QUOTEABLE:
Head Coach Ann Elliott
In all honesty, I thought we played pretty sloppy for the first 20 minutes of the game and undisciplined. We have to do a better job there. Outside of that, we did well on draw controls which gave us great opportunities in our transition attack and settled. Once we committed to our offense, I thought we did a good job of moving the ball and being unselfish, which are two keys for us to be successful offensively.

Defensively we made some saves when we needed too and we were able to get some stops. We had a few turnovers we need to clean up and we will focus on this over the next week.

NOTABLE:

The Buffs are 3-0 for the first time in program history.
Colorado's 22 goals and 32 points ranks second in school history. The Buffs recorded 23 goals and 36 points last season in a victory against St. Mary's.
The 22 goals also equaled the amount of goals CU scored in its first two games (11 vs. Northwestern and 11 vs. UMass).
13 Buffs recorded a goal and seven earned assists in the win.
Colorado is ranked this week for the first time in program history. The Buffs are 14th in the Inside Lacrosse media poll, while they are 11th in the NIKE/US Lacrosse poll. (The IWLCA did not release a poll last week; its first regular season poll will be released on Monday, Feb. 20.)

UP NEXT: The Buffs return to Boulder to host UC Davis on Sunday, Feb. 26. First draw is set for 12 p.m.

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Team Stats

Marie Moore

Sophie Castillo

Emily Knapp

Cali Castagnola

Players Mentioned

Sarah Brown

Cali Castagnola

Sophie Castillo

Johnna Fusco

Sophia Gambitsky

Darby Kiernan

Emily Knapp

Katie Macleay

Marie Moore

Samantha Nemirov

Paige Soenksen

Players Mentioned

Sarah Brown

Cali Castagnola

Sophie Castillo

Johnna Fusco

Sophia Gambitsky

Darby Kiernan

Emily Knapp

Katie Macleay

Marie Moore

Samantha Nemirov

Paige Soenksen