Buffs Snap Losing Streak To Stanford & Improve To 12-1

BOULDER – After losing six straight games to Stanford, three in the regular season and three in the postseason, the Colorado Buffaloes finally earned their first win against the Cardinal, a 13-8 decision, on Friday at Kittredge Field.

The Buffs, who are ranked fifth in a pair of polls and sixth in the other, improved to 12-1 on the season, which includes a 4-0 mark in Mountain Pacific Sports Federation play.

Although Colorado did not need extra motivation against Stanford, the fact that it was senior day only helped. One of those seniors was Johnna Fusco, who recorded four goals in the contest. Another senior, Katie Macleay, recorded two huge goals at the end of the game, while senior goalkeeper Paige Soenksen recorded seven saves in the game to put CU in position to win.

Darby Kiernan, a junior, also had a big game for CU with four goals and two assists for a game high six points.

WHAT HAPPENED: Stanford got on the board first, just 46 seconds into the game with a goal by Danielle McMahon, but the Cardinal's lead did not last long as Fusco found the back of the net at 27:58.

The Buffs recorded five more goals to take a 6-1 lead. Junior Carly Cox tallied a marker at 25:26 off an assist from Kiernan, while junior Sarah Brown scored her third goal of the season just 10 seconds later. Fusco recorded her second of the contest at 22:40 and sophomore Miranda Stinson tallied her first of the game at 19:18. Kiernan notched the Buffs' sixth goal at 19:00.

At that point, SU took a timeout and shortly after that (18:27), recorded a goal from Kelsey Murray. SU scored two more before the end of the half.

The Cardinal struck first in the second half at 23:39, to bring the score to 6-5, but the Buffs ended their scoring drought and notched three straight goals (two from Kiernan and one from Fusco) before Stanford called another timeout at 14:41. The break did not slow down CU, especially Kiernan as she recorded her fourth goal of the game at 13:10 to increase the Buffs' lead to 10-5.

SU tallied its sixth goal at 11:35, but the Buffs responded with another goal from Fusco to complete the hat-trick. The Cardinal tried to get something going late in the half, scoring at 9:57 to cut CU's lead to four (11-7). Macleay finally got her name on the stat sheet with 6:16 left in the contest and scored her second goal of the game less than three minutes later (3:43).

Stanford was forced to take another timeout as the Buffs took a commanding 13-7 lead and was able to add one more marker to its score at 1:25, but ultimately it would not be enough as CU secured its first victory against the Cardinal.

HOME SWEET HOME: The Buffs finished the regular season home slate with a perfect 8-0 record. CU has called Kittredge Field its home since 2014 and now has an impressive 25-5 record there.

KEY STATISTICS: Just like the Buffs have done a lot this season, they out-shot Stanford 33-22, which included a 19-9 mark in the first half. CU also had the edge in ground balls (18-12), draw controls (13-10) and caused turnovers (10-6). The Buffs also did better controlling the ball as they committed 16 turnovers to SU's 23.

THE SENIORS: Colorado honored its 16 seniors before the start of the game. They are: Perri Baker, Amelia Brown, Cali Castagnola, Maddie DeWinter, Johnna Fusco, Sophia Gambitsky, Maddie Hunt, Emily Knapp, Tori Link, Katie Macleay, Claire McCain, Marie Moore, Annie Morsches, Molly Rovzar, Amanda Salvadore and Paige Soenksen.

TEAM LEADERS:

Colorado
Points: 16
Goals: 13
Assists: 4
Draw Controls: 13
Ground Balls: 18
Saves: 7

Stanford
Points: 11
Goals: 8
Assists: 3
Draw Controls: 10
Ground Balls: 12
Saves: 14

NOTABLE:

Katie Macleay has scored at least one point in every game this season.
Sarah Brown had a good day for the Buffs, scoring her third goal of the season. She also led the Buffs with three caused turnovers and two draw controls.
The Buffs had never beaten Stanford. Prior to Friday, SU led the series 6-0.
Attendance for the game was 856, which broke CU's record of 812 that was set at the program's first home game on Feb. 22, 2014 against Regis. That game was played in Folsom Field.

UP NEXT: The Buffs hit the road for two straight weekends of MPSF action to wrap-up the regular season. CU will head to Southern California to face No. 9 USC on April 14, before taking on San Diego State on April 16. The final two contests will be on April 21 (St. Mary's) and April 23 (California).

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QUOTEABLE:
Head Coach Ann Elliott
On the scoring drought in the middle of the game
"We had a tough stretch especially offensively. We did a good job keeping ourselves in the game defensively and even in our ride, but offensively we just have to do a better job putting away our shots. That's been a theme for us just shooting and we have to make sure we are focusing on that inside and outside of practice. I think our staff too will go look back at the film and we will figure out what we have to do better and where we struggled a bit."

No panic from players
"I didn't think we played that experienced today, especially in the beginning. We are an experienced team and they have to play that way under emotions all the time. I don't think we freaked out too much in that situation. They were fairly calm, but at the same time you have to execute. It doesn't matter if you're calm. If you aren't executing, then you aren't doing our job and we need to make sure we are doing that all the time. We need to capitalize when we make good defensive stops."

On the Seniors
"Senior day is incredibly special, but it's not the end of our season and I think the girls know that there is a lot more to come. There is a lot more we have to do and at the same time this is a huge game because it is a conference game for us and we are trying to put ourselves in the best place going into the conference tournament. One, to qualify and then try to place first or second to make our route the easiest. That is something we haven't been able to do in the last three years so this is a big step in the right direction. The last four games are as easily important and we have a tough one against USC coming up."

Efforts of this week compared to last week
"Yeah I think the experience came through in a different way. We kept fighting across the board. We didn't get down. We played very well defensively at points when we needed to play well and made plays. We were able to keep fighting and stay in the game and then getting in a couple things in transition helps us break it open a little bit and gets our energy going and that was key for us."

On USC
"Lindsey Munday is the coach there and I think Lindsey is just like me. I don't think Lindsey over looks anything or takes anything for granted. I don't think they have ever come into a game taking anything for granted. Even when they have been so successful over the last few years. We know what we are going into against them. We know how big of a game that is. We know how good they are playing right now and they have grown a lot. They have a lot of young kids that are very talented that have a lot of confidence right now. For us it's going to be about improving and doing a lot of the little things right. We have to make sure we control what we can control down the stretch."

Defensive Trio

"Defensively we have talked about it all weekend and we talked about it last weekend too. Communication and playing together is huge for us. I think we have struggled at points. I think individually we are very athletic and we are quick and we can do a lot of things. When we are playing against a good team you can't do it that way. You have to play seven on seven and I think Molly (Rovzar), Paige (Soenksen), and Amelia (Brown) are strong points down there. I think they play great team defense and I think they are great leaders down there. Their experience has really helped our team continue to grow and we have a great defensive unit down there with Sarah (Brown), Kelsie (Garrison) and Olivia (Aschman) too. We are really excited for where we are at defensively. We know we have to get a little bit better going into USC, but we are excited about our potential."

Katie Macleay, Senior Attacker
On The Team's Emotions Following A Win Over Stanford On Senior Day
"That was great. We were all looking forward to this opportunity that we were lucky enough to have again to face Stanford and finally get that win against them. It came on senior day too, so that was really special."

On How The Team Came Out Strong, Became Stagnant, Then Finished Strong
"I think it was the momentum. We had it and once it went down, we shut down a little bit. It was good that we picked it back up and were able to finish it off."

On The Team Handling The Pressure Of Stanford Making A Comeback
"That's something that we're going to face throughout the rest of the season. We have USC coming up and we're definitely going to face more close games. I think it's good. It shows were able to come out of a tough situation like we just did and go out to win the game."

On What Adjustments CU Made At Halftime
"I think it was just the momentum. We came out and fired three goals in a row and that's when we thought to get after it."

On Scoring In Every Game This Season So Far
"It doesn't really mean anything to me to keep that streak going. I want to see everybody on my team out there scoring but it is an awesome feeling to be a senior and be able to do that every game. Hopefully we can all keep that up and everyone scores in the next few games we have left."

Darby Kiernan, Junior Attacker
On a Back-and-Forth Game
"We started out really strong, got a lot of goals. Then, when we went into that awkward phase of not really scoring, we just got together and we were saying we needed to refocus and it was a new half. Then we came out strong in the second half. Basically, we were more focused on certain things in the offense and then we were able to put away our shots."

On the Pressure When Stanford Caught Up (6-5)
"When there is pressure like that and the score is close, it definitely gives you motivation. But you got to keep calm in that moment too, just keep focus and be determined to get back in the game. We never really got frazzled or anything we just had to keep our focus and we were able to put away the match."

On the Importance of Senior Day
"Today was a really special day for everyone. We just wanted to come out super strong and win this game for the seniors. It feels so good to win for the. It was just an awesome experience to win this game on this field, the last home game. It was really special. It was awesome. It is really cool to beat Stanford for the first time. We just came out here and we were really pumped up to play them. We were really excited so it is just awesome getting the win."

On Sending a Message to The Conference
"I think winning any conference game is important. Also, winning against Stanford is important, so just getting another conference win was really awesome."

Buffs Snap Losing Streak To Stanford & Improve To 12-1

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Team Stats

Game Leaders

Johnna Fusco

Darby Kiernan

Katie Macleay

Carly Cox

Players Mentioned

Perri Baker

Amelia Brown

Sarah Brown

Cali Castagnola

Carly Cox

Maddie DeWinter

Johnna Fusco

Sophia Gambitsky

Maddie Hunt

Darby Kiernan

Emily Knapp

Tori Link

Katie Macleay

Claire McCain

Marie Moore

Annie Morsches

Molly Rovzar

Amanda Salvadore

Paige Soenksen

Miranda Stinson

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Players Mentioned

Perri Baker

Amelia Brown

Sarah Brown

Cali Castagnola

Carly Cox

Maddie DeWinter

Johnna Fusco

Sophia Gambitsky

Maddie Hunt

Darby Kiernan

Emily Knapp

Tori Link

Katie Macleay

Claire McCain

Marie Moore

Annie Morsches

Molly Rovzar

Amanda Salvadore

Paige Soenksen

Miranda Stinson

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