Late Surge Lifts Buffs Past Stanford, 14-13

After losing three straight Mountain Pacific Sports Federation semifinal games to Stanford, the Colorado Buffaloes flipped the script and defeated the Cardinal 14-13 to advance to their first championship game, which will be against No. 6 Southern California on Sunday.

The Buffs, who are ranked eighth in the media poll and are ninth in the other two polls, improved to 16-2 on the season and were led by sophomore Miranda Stinson's five goals. This is the second time this season Stinson has put up five goals, which is also tied for the CU single-game record.

WHAT HAPPENED: The back-and-forth game started with a goal by senior attacker Johnna Fusco at 26:12. Stanford responded less than a minute later with its first tally of the day. CU retook the lead off a goal by senior Cali Castagnola at 23:59.

The Cardinal evened the score at 17:25 and took its first lead of the game at 12:52 (3-2). The Buffs answered with a pair of goals from senior Katie Macleay. She recorded the first at 12:01 and a man-down goal at 9:53, once again giving CU an advantage (4-3).

The scoring continued in the half as SU recorded two straight goals before the Buffs tied the game at 3:07 with a goal from Carly Cox. The Cardinal had a 6-5 lead with 2:35 left in the half, but a goal from Stinson with eight seconds left tied the game at 6-6.

Darby Kiernan started the second half for the Buffs with a goal at 27:05 before Stanford tallied two straight markers to take a two-goal lead at 19:30. Stinson recorded her second goal of the game at 16:37 to cut the Cardinal's advantage to one goal (9-8).

Two goals, one by each team, were scored within a minute of each other. SU recorded its marker at 14:45 and Fusco scored a goal at 14:31 off the draw (10-9). The Buffs tied it up again at 13:06 with Macleay's third goal of the day.

The Cardinal recorded its 11th goal of the game four minutes later, but CU responded with a 4-0 run to go up 14-11 with 1:50 left to play. Stanford did not let up, scoring the final two markers of the game at 1:20 and 1:11.

DEFENSE: Senior Paige Soenksen recorded four saves in the game to earn her 15th win of the season. The Buffs also tied a season-high with 12 caused turnovers and were led by Sarah Brown's career-best six.

KEY STATISTICS: Colorado recorded 36 shots to Stanford's 26. The Buffs also led in draw controls (20-8). Stanford had a slight edge in ground balls (19-18).

NOTABLE:

CU's 16-2 overall record is the best in school history.
The Buffs have won both meetings against Stanford this year, including a 13-8 victory in Boulder in April 7.
SU leads the all-time series 6-2.
Colorado is now 4-3 in MPSF Tournament play

TEAM LEADERS:

Colorado
Points: 18
Goals: 14
Assists: 4
Draw Controls: 20
Ground Balls: 18
Saves: 4

Stanford
Points: 18
Goals: 13
Assists: 5
Draw Controls: 8
Ground Balls: 19
Saves: 11

UP NEXT: Colorado will face Southern California in the finals on Sunday, April 30, at 2 p.m. MT/ 1 p.m. PT.

QUOTEABLE:
Head Coach Ann Elliott
"I think for us it's about being mentally and physically tough. We struggled a bit in the first half with that toughness but we rebounded in the second half and did a good job creating opportunities and making sure we got the next play if we didn't get the first one. Draw controls were huge for us too."

"I think it's a big hump for us to get over. We had to fight to get over it. Stanford's a great team. They had ups and downs in their season but they're a great team. They came out strong and competed and looked offensively and defensively. We had to really fight back and get focused on getting that next play. For us it's a big thing to make it to the championship game and we'll regroup and get ready for Sunday."

"All week we've been talking to the girls about being aggressive and going hard. Miranda did that today. She's such a dynamic player. She was able to kick in and keep it simple. When our offense keeps things simple in their minds, we're very, very good. We just have to keep this going into Sunday."

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Team Stats

Miranda Stinson

Katie Macleay

Johnna Fusco

Cali Castagnola

Players Mentioned

Sarah Brown

Cali Castagnola

Carly Cox

Johnna Fusco

Darby Kiernan

Katie Macleay

Paige Soenksen

Miranda Stinson