Woelk: Buffs Lacrosse Seniors Have Plans For More Celebrations

BOULDER — Make no mistake, Friday afternoon provided plenty of reasons for the Colorado lacrosse team to celebrate.

Certainly a 13-8 win over Stanford — the first-ever win over the Cardinal in program history — was a special moment. Throw in the fact that it came on Senior Day in the last regular season home game of the year and it adds to the equation. The win also improved the Buffs record to 12-1 overall and 4-0 in MPSF play, yet more reasons to feel good about the day.

For a program that is in just its fourth year of existence, it was no doubt a win to remember, particularly with the opponent holding a 6-0 record in the series, including victories that ended the Buffs' season in each of the last three years.

But as Buffs senior Johnna Fusco so aptly pointed out, these seniors aren't ready to call it their last home game. They have more memories to create.

The Buffs know very well that if they continue to win they could host the first round of the NCAA Tournament. It's why even in the midst of their post-game jubilation on Friday, the Buffs were already looking ahead to next Friday's matchup against USC, with whom the Buffs are currently tied for the top spot in the MPSF.

"It's great to win on Senior Day and do it against Stanford," said Fusco, who tallied four goals Friday to share game-high honors with teammate Darby Kiernan. "But we have a chance to extend our season so much longer. I love the emphasis on 'regular season' because we could be playing here in the NCAAs and home-field advantage would be amazing for us. It's why it's so important that we go out and keep winning. It's great to celebrate, but the emphasis is already on USC."

While Friday's game had all the markings of a rout early on, it ended up providing its fair share of drama.

Thanks to a pair of goals from Fusco in the first 11 minutes, plus scores from Kiernan, Sarah Brown, Miranda Stinson and Carly Cox, the Buffs jumped out to a 6-1 lead and an overflow Kittredge Field crowd seemed ready to enjoy an easy win.

But "easy" never really had time to enter the equation. Stanford called a timeout after CU's sixth goal, then proceeded to score three goals before halftime while blanking the Buffs in the process to narrow the gap to 6-4 by intermission.

The Cardinal then added another goal less than seven minutes into the second half while continuing to stymie the Buffs on the offensive end. With 18 minutes to go in the game, the Buffs hadn't scored in 31 minutes and their 6-5 lead was looking more and more precarious with every possession.

"We had a tough stretch, especially offensively," CU coach Ann Elliott said. "We did a good job keeping ourselves in the game defensively, but offensively we just have to do a better job putting away our shots."

But when the Buffs finally ended the drought, they did it in a big way. Kiernan scored with 17:28 remaining to bump the Buffs' lead back up to two, then added another just 49 seconds later to give Colorado an 8-5 lead. Fusco then cashed in her third goal of the game two minutes later to push CU's cushion to four before Kiernan added her fourth of the game at the 13:10 mark to give the Buffs four goals in just more than four minutes of play and a 10-5 lead.

"It was good that we picked it back up and were able to come back and fight and finish it off," said senior Katie Mcleay, whose two goals kept alive her streak of recording a goal or an assist in every game this season. "That's something we're going to face the rest of the season. With USC coming up, we're definitely going to face more close games. It think it's good and it proves we're able to come out of a tough situation."

But Elliott and the Buffs also know that from this point on, the road only gets tougher. The Buffs have four conference games remaining — all on the road — beginning with next week's tilt at USC. The Trojans, the defending regular season and MPSF tournament champs, have won 14 regular season conference games in a row and 22 straight overall at home.

It's why Friday's Buffs celebration, while well-deserved, was tempered with a hint of anticipation. The Buffs know they have plenty more on their plate, plenty more to accomplish.

"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," Elliott said. "There is a lot more we have to do. 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."

While the Buffs qualified for the MPSF tournament in each of their first three seasons, they have yet to earn the coveted first-round bye. Six teams qualify, with the top two seeds earning byes in the tournament that USC will host this year.

Still, as Elliott noted, Friday was a major step in the right direction for a program that is recording "firsts" at seemingly every juncture of the season. A win over Stanford — winner of nine conference titles — is another signal that the Buffs are deserving of their national ranking (fifth in two polls, sixth in another).

But CU's seniors — who came to Boulder and put down the foundation for success — aren't ready for a good thing to end.

"It's not the end of our season," Fusco said. "It means a lot to win on Senior Day. It's a great day to celebrate — but there's going to be more celebration for us this year. We just have to get back to work and make sure we extend this season as long as we possibly can."

Contact: Neill.Woelk@Colorado.edu