Kiernan Sets CU Career Points Record As Buffs Power Past Bears

Sunday, March 11

Boulder, CO

12:00 PM

Colorado

5-2, 2-0Pac-12

California

4-4, 0-2Pac-12

California

Colorado

Senior Darby Kiernan recorded six goals in CU's 15-5 win over California on Sunday

Photo by: Dan Madden

Kiernan Sets CU Career Points Record As Buffs Power Past Bears

March 11, 2018 | Lacrosse

Box Score PDF Boxscore Highlights

By: Linda Sprouse, Associate SID

BOULDER – Senior Darby Kiernan became Colorado's all-time career points leader on Sunday afternoon as the 19^th-ranked Buffaloes cruised past the California Bears, 15-5, at Kittredge Field.

Kiernan entered the game with 216 points after scoring eight on Friday against Stanford. She tied former teammate Johnna Fusco's record (218) with her second goal of the day and her third goal put her in the lead. She tallied four more points (three goals and one assist) and currently has 223 points.

The Buffs are now 2-0 to start Pac-12 Conference play and are 5-2 overall. Cal is now 4-4 this season and is 0-2 to start the conference season.

WHAT HAPPENED: The Buffs scored the first six goals of the game, starting at 28:22 when Kiernan converted on a free-position attempt. Sophie Castillo put CU up 2-0 with her only goal of the game six minutes later (22:40). Just 51 seconds later, Kiernan found the back of the net for the second time of the game.

The Buffs kept rolling, adding another three goals, two unassisted from Miranda Stinson and a free-position goal from Samantha Nemirov, before the Bears got on the board at 17:01. Nemirov, Stinson and Kiernan would each tally another marker again before Cal scored its second of the game at 8:51 (9-2).

Colorado led 11-2 at halftime and did not take long to strike in the second half, scoring at 26:59 to put the Buffs up by 10 and give them a running clock. The Bears answered back 41 seconds later to stop the clock (12-3).

Kiernan scored her fifth of the game at 22:50, again putting CU up by 10, but just like they did the time before, the Bears answered with a goal at 20:41 to cut the CU advantage to nine (13-4).

The Buffs did not let up and once again earned the running clock after Kiernan's sixth goal of the game at 18:17, and this time, they did not let it go. Stinson scored her fourth of the game at 12:40 for a 15-4 lead, although Cal did score the final marker of the game at 4:43 (15-5).

DEFENSE: For the second time this season, CU's defense held the opponent to five or less goals. The Buffs also had a season-best 12 caused turnovers, accounting for all but two of California's 14 turnovers. Devon Bayer led the Buffs with three, while Miranda Stinson and Madi Wifall added two each. Sadie Grozier, Darby Kiernan, Jen Mistretta and Audrey Kingdom each had one caused turnover.

OFFENSE: For the third time in as many games, Darby Kiernan has recorded seven or more points. She had seven in the win over No. 19 Virginia Tech (two goals and five assists) on March 4 and tallied five goals and three assists against No. 18 Stanford on March 9. Today she had six goals and an assist against California.

OTHER STATS: The Buffs out-shot Cal 36-19 and also had the advantage in ground balls (22-19) and draw controls (14-8). CU also cleared on 14-of-16 attempts, while Cal only cleared 6-of-14 times.

NOTABLE:

CU has now won four straight after starting the season 1-2.
The Buffs have now won 14 straight games at Kittredge Field, dating back to the 2016 season.
In total, CU has won 15 home games in that span as the Buffs also hosted Oregon on March 19, 2017, in the Indoor Practice facility.
The 15 home wins ties the ninth best home win streak in NCAA history.
For the third straight game, Julia Lisella has recorded 10 or more saves.
Four Buffs have scored at least one point in every game this season: Sophie Castillo, Samantha Nemirov, Darby Kiernan and Miranda Stinson.

TEAM LEADERS:

Colorado

Points: 17

Goals: 15

Assists: 2

Draw Controls: 14

Ground Balls: 22

Saves: 11

California

Points: 7

Goals: 5

Assists: 2

Draw Controls: 8

Ground Balls: 19

Saves: 13

UP NEXT: Colorado heads back on the road after three weeks at home. The Buffs will start off in Los Angeles against Southern California on March 16 at 4 p.m. MT. Then on Sunday, March 18, CU will face Arizona State for the first time at 12 p.m. in Tempe, Ariz.

QUOTEABLE:
Head Coach Ann Elliott
On four wins in a row-
"I think that we are feeling pretty good about where we are at. We know that we have to get better, keep getting some more experience and cleaning up a few things, especially today, just a few turnovers and missed opportunities. I think that overall we are excited about where we are at and we are ready to get on the road."

On beginning conference play-
"I think that conference games are so important. It is about winning in your conference and competing in your conference, so to be 2-0 is great, but we know that it is a long road ahead. We have ten conference games, so we have a lot going on. Heading into USC, I think that we are confident in where we are at right now and the progress that we have made over the last couple of weeks, but we know that they are a great team and that it is going to be a really tough battle. We have a lot of work this week."

On Darby Kiernan's scoring ability-
"Darby is obviously an incredible player on the field, I think she is an incredible teammate too. She is unselfish, I think that the last thing she cares about is breaking any record. She just wants to go out there and compete as hard as she can for her team. She wants to do the little things and she is being very aggressive this year which is exciting and I think that we are pleased with where we are at. We know that she can get better and we can get better as well offensively."

On Julia Lisella's fourth start in net-
"I think that down there defensively we have been doing a better job as a whole competing and playing together. I think that Julia has been making some big saves for us and making the saves that we need her to make. We have been forcing the shots we need to force. So overall we are excited about where we are at, but again we know that we have a long way to go and we have to keep getting better in all positions."

Senior Attacker Darby Kiernan
On breaking school record in points-
"Yeah, it's cool, but I was just happy to win today."

On three straight games having seven or more points-
"I'm just really happy we are winning. It feels really good to win but we have two away games next weekend, so we just have to prepare and focus on those games next."

On what has been working for the team in the last four games-
"I think just being prepared and sticking to our plan is huge and just working hard all around the field. Also, I think just going into the game knowing what we have to do. We just came out the last couple of games ready to go, pumped up and we have had a lot of energy."