No. 9 Trojans Top No. 5/6 Buffaloes

LOS ANGELES – For just the second time this season, the Colorado Buffaloes suffered a loss, this time falling 11-5 on Friday night to ninth-ranked Southern California in the L.A. Coliseum.

The Buffs, who are ranked fifth in a pair of polls and are sixth in the other, are 12-2 on the season with the only other loss coming two weeks ago to then-No. 5 Stony Brook. Friday's loss was also the first for CU in Mountain Pacific Sports Federation play as CU is now 4-1. USC improved to 12-3 overall and is 6-0 in league play.

Junior attacker Darby Kiernan led the Buffs with two goals on four shots and also recorded a pair of draw controls. Senior goalkeeper Paige Soenksen had nine saves in the game, five in the first half and four in the second, as well as a team-high four ground balls.

WHAT HAPPENED: The Trojans struck first, less than six minutes into the game (24:09), but the Buffs responded three minutes later with Kiernan's first marker of the day (21:18). Senior attacker Johnna Fusco tallied her first of the game less than 90 seconds later (19:46), giving CU a 2-1 lead.

USC evened the game at 17:01, which is where the score would stay for six minutes before junior defender Kelsie Garrison found the back of the net for the fourth time this season (11:23). Kiernan notched her second of the game just over two minutes later (9:02) to put the Buffs up by two.

But that lead didn't hold as the Trojans rallied with a pair of goals to again tie the score (4-4) with 6:40 left in the half.

Sophomore midfielder Miranda Stinson gave the Buffs a 5-4 lead with 5:02 left in the half, which would end of being their final goal of the game as the Buffs were not able to keep the momentum going into the second half and were held scoreless while the Trojans recorded seven goals for an 11-5 win.

KEY STATISTICS: The Buffs had a 13-12 edge in shots after the first half, but USC tallied 14 to CU's six in the second half for a 26-19 advantage. USC also led the battle in ground balls (17-11) and draw controls (10-8).

TEAM LEADERS:

Colorado
Points: 6
Goals: 5
Assists: 1
Draw Controls: 8
Ground Balls: 11
Saves: 9

USC
Points: 17
Goals: 11
Assists: 6
Draw Controls: 10
Ground Balls: 17
Saves: 9

NOTABLE:

The Buffs have never been held scoreless in a half this season
The five goals in the game is a season-low for CU
USC leads the all-time series 3-1
The Trojans recorded seven goals in the second half to overcome the Buffs

QUOTEABLE:
Head Coach Ann Elliott
"Credit to USC. They played well on both ends of the field. You can't win games if you can't score and we got outscored 7-0 in second half. Not the way you draw it up. At the end of the day, you have to want it more than other team and you have to go out there and get it. While we did some things well, overall we didn't want it bad enough to step up and make the plays we needed and USC did. Credit to them there."

UP NEXT: Colorado will face San Diego State on Sunday, April 16. Opening draw is scheduled for 1 p.m. MT.

EMAILS: If you are interested in receiving emails about lacrosse, sign up here: http://www.cubuffs.com/sports/2008/9/16/buffs-blast.aspx.

Next Event

Team Stats

Darby Kiernan

Kelsie Garrison

Johnna Fusco

Miranda Stinson

Players Mentioned

Johnna Fusco

Kelsie Garrison

Darby Kiernan

Paige Soenksen

Miranda Stinson