Friday, April 27
Boulder, CO
1:00 PM

Colorado

13-4

16
vs
6

Oregon

9-9

1
2
F
Oregon
3
3
6
Colorado
5
11
16
Darby Kiernan
Darby Kiernan had three goals in CU's win over Oregon in Friday's Pac-12 tournament semifinal.
Photo by: Lance Wendt

Buffs Throttle Oregon, Advance To Pac-12 Women's Lacrosse Title Game

April 27, 2018 | Lacrosse, Neill Woelk

 

BOULDER — After 30 minutes of play Friday afternoon, the Colorado Buffaloes were clinging to a narrow 5-3 lead over Oregon in their Pac-12 women's lacrosse tournament semifinal.

But the Buffs very quickly turned up the heat in the second half with five goals in the first six minutes, then put forth a dominant defensive effort down the stretch to collect a 16-6 win and advance to Sunday's noon championship game at Prentup Field.

The Buffs will play Stanford in Sunday's title game. The Cardinal rallied to beat USC, 15-14, in Friday's second semifinal. Colorado swept the season series with the Cardinal, rallying for an 18-16 win in Boulder in early March, then collecting an 11-10 overtime win two weeks ago.

Friday's win, Colorado's sixth in a row, improved the Buffs' record to 13-4 while Oregon dropped to 9-9

"In the beginning we missed a few little plays, but outside of that, we were going hard and had some good opportunities, we just weren't finishing," Colorado coach Ann Elliott said. "Defensively we were sticking to the game plan and making plays. The game plan was to finish every play whether it was getting a ground ball in transition or shooting. I thought we did a lot better job (in the second half)."

The Buffs produced some balanced scoring on the offensive end, with eight different players scoring at least one goal. Junior Sophia Castillo finished with three goals and three assists, senior Darby Kiernan added three goals and Miranda Stinson had two goals and two assists as the Buffs beat the Ducks for the third time in as many tries this year.

Defensively, the Buffs throttled Oregon's attack all day. Sophomore goaltender Julia Lisella recorded 12 saves, Sarah Brown forced three turnovers and Kelsie Garrison scooped up five ground balls.

"Their goalkeeper shut the door on us," Oregon coach Katrina Dowd said. "They were playing really good defense, and it started on our rides. They were shortening our possessions. They are really tough and battle tested."

HOW IT HAPPENED: After the Ducks drew first blood with a goal barely two minutes in, Colorado quickly answered with three goals in a five-minute span to take the lead, and never trailed again.

Sophomore midfielder Anna Collawn started the surge with her seventh goal of the season off an assist from Castillo at the 25:11 mark. Barely three minutes later, Stinson cashed in her 51st goal of the season for a 2-1 Colorado lead before Kiernan scored at the 20:48 mark to give CU a 3-1 edge.

Oregon, though, didn't go away quietly, closing the gap back to one on Jill Zubillaga's second goal of the game. CU answered with scores from Jen Mistretta and Castillo, but Oregon again managed to pull within two on a goal late in the period, and the half ended with Colorado holding on to a 5-3 lead.

But it took Colorado barely five minutes of the second half to squelch any thoughts of an Oregon upset.

CU senior Carly Cox opened the second half with a goal at the 28:59 mark before Kiernan scored again just a minute later. Cox then added her second goal of the game at the 27:38 mark by scooping up a turnover by Ducks goaltender Brittany Read and scoring on an empty net, and just two minutes later, Blair Sisk scored off a Castillo assist to give the Buffs a 9-3 lead less than five minutes into the half.

That led to an Oregon timeout, but the break didn't help. Almost immediately after play resumed, Castillo scored again.

"It's always a team effort out there," Kiernan said. "It's important that people are scoring and doing a good job. In the second half, we were just taking better shots and we came out with the win."

Oregon finally ended CU's 5-0 run with a goal at 22:11, but the Buffs responded by continuing to add to their tally, finally pushing their lead into double digits with just under six minutes to play on a Sisk goal.

Meanwhile, CU's defense kept the Ducks at bay. After giving up nine goals to Oregon in each of their previous two wins, the Buffs held the Ducks to just six, their lowest output of the season.

"Our defense definitely stepped up," Castillo said. "We've been practicing on cutting and scouting their feeders. They're really good at passing the ball through the middle and finishing. We had been focusing on that all week."

TURNING POINT: While the Buffs were in control virtually the entire game, it was their 5-0 run in the first 5:20 of the second half that put the game away.

WHAT IT MEANS: With a six-game win streak, the Buffs will take plenty of momentum into Sunday's noon title game.

CU STANDOUTS: Sophia Castillo led a balanced CU scoring attack with three goals and three assists. … Darby Kiernan pushed her team-leading goals total to 60 with three on Friday. … Miranda Stinson had two goals and two assists. … Goaltender Julia Lisella recorded 12 saves. …  Sarah Brown forced three turnovers. … Kelsie Garrison scooped up five ground balls.

QUOTEWORTHY: "Our team is about playing seven people on offense and everyone being a threat and doing their role. We worked all week on people stepping up and making plays. Every game is a little bit different with the opportunities that we get, but I thought today, with the way that they were playing defense, allowed for a lot of different people to have opportunities, and it was great to see them finish those and to step to take advantage of them." — CU coach Ann Elliott

UP NEXT: The Buffs (13-4) will meet Stanford (14-4) on Sunday at noon at Prentup Field in the Pac-12 tournament championship game.

Contact: Neill.Woelk@Colorado.edu






 

Team Stats

ORE
COLO
Shots
28
45
Turnovers
13
10
Caused Turnovers
4
7
Draw Controls
7
17
Free-Position Shots
6
7
Ground Balls
15
28

Game Leaders

G
3
A
3
FO
-
Pen
-
GB
1
CT
0
G
3
A
0
FO
-
Pen
-
GB
1
CT
0
G
2
A
0
FO
-
Pen
-
GB
1
CT
0
G
2
A
0
FO
-
Pen
-
GB
0
CT
0

Players Mentioned

D
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M
/ Lacrosse
A
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A
/ Lacrosse
G
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M
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M
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