18th-Ranked Buffs Dominate Arizona State 16-3

BOULDER – Colorado used a pair of 8-0 runs to continue its dominating ways at Kittredge Field, taking down Arizona State 16-3 on Sunday afternoon to improve to 9-4 overall. Junior Miranda Stinson led the Buffs with five goals and one assist for six points.

With the win, No. 18 CU (6-1 Pac-12) is tied for first in the Pac-12 Conference standings with Stanford, which also has a 6-1 league mark.

WHAT HAPPENED: The Buffs tallied the first eight markers of the game. Stinson scored the first goal just 59 seconds in. Sophie Castillo earned her first of the contest at 26:43 and then Stinson tallied her second marker at 25:04.

Sarah Brown kept the scoring going for the CU, recording her second of the season at 22:46 and then Samantha Nemirov scored a goal at 16:12. Carly Cox scored the following two goals for CU at 12:31 and 7:26. Stinson scored her third of the half at 6:53 to give the Buffs a commanding 8-0 lead.

Arizona State (6-10, 1-8 Pac-12) ended the Buffs' run with a goal at 1:41, which was the final goal of the half.

The Sun Devils recorded the first goal in the second frame at 28:13, but the Buffs responded with goals from Darby Kiernan (26:11) and a pair from Stinson (25:06 and 24:02) to bring the score to 11-2.

Kiernan notched her second of the day at 23:07, which put CU up by 10 for the running clock. The Buffs recorded another pair of markers from Castillo (19:06) and Anna Collawn (17:32) before ASU took a timeout.

The Buffs did not slow down. Brown caused an ASU turnover at 14:44 and CU marched down the field. Less than 15 seconds after the turnover, sophomore Annika Nissen scored her first career goal to give CU a 15-2 advantage. Blair Sisk scored her first goal since returning to the CU lineup after suffering an injury against Virginia Tech on March 4.

ASU put a stop to CU's second 8-0 run at 3:48, scoring the last goal of the game.

DRAW DOMINATION: Again, the Buffs dominated the game in draw controls, recording 17 of the 21. Darby Kiernan led the way with eight, while Kelsie Garrison was second with five. Sarah Brown earned three and Bridget Mitchell had the other one.

DEFENSE: For the fourth time this season, and the second time against ASU, CU's defense held the opposing team to five goals or less. The Buffs caused 10 of ASU's 18 turnovers. Kelsie Garrison, Sadie Grozier and Miranda Stinson each had two in the game.

NOTABLE:

Two Buffs have scored at least one point in every game this season: Samantha Nemirov and Darby Kiernan.
For the fourth time this season, Miranda Stinson recorded five (or more) goals.
The Buffs have now won 16 straight games at Kittredge Field, dating back to the 2016 season. The last time CU lost at Kitt was to USC (9-8) on April 8, 2016.
In total, CU has won 17 home games in that span as the Buffs also hosted Oregon on March 19, 2017, in the Indoor Practice Facility.
The 17 home wins is the ninth best home win streak in NCAA history.

TEAM LEADERS:

Colorado

Points: 21

Goals: 16

Assists: 3

Draw Controls: 17

Ground Balls: 19

Saves: 3

Arizona State

Points: 5

Goals: 3

Assists: 2

Draw Controls: 4

Ground Balls: 14

Saves: 13

UP NEXT: Colorado heads to Northern California next week for a pair of games. The Buffs will take on Stanford on Friday, April 13, and on Sunday, April 15, the Buffs will face California.

QUOTES:
Head Coach Ann Elliott
On the importance of being tied for first in the Pac-12 standings
"Our focus is going one game at a time and just seeing what we can do especially in conference. It is so important to come out strong, so we did our work this weekend. We know heading into Stanford that it is a big game and we have to be ready to go."

On the play of Miranda Stinson
"Miranda is always playing hard. We wanted to be aggressive and I thought she came out and did that on Friday and it was nice to see things go her way here on Sunday. As a whole, we have to keep being aggressive and we need everybody every game."

On the defense performance
"I thought our defense came out pretty aggressive. We need to continue to be aggressive especially heading into Stanford. They are such a versatile team and so dangerous in many different ways, which we learned real quick here last time we played them. We will continue to focus on team defense and being aggressive and really finishing plays but I thought we did a good job on that today."

On beating Arizona State on draw controls
"Yeah, having possessions is obviously huge. Darby has been doing a great job for us there. I thought Sarah and Kelsey did a really great job today on the circle as they did on Friday and a great job being aggressive on pushing our transitions. That is something we need every game and again last time we played Stanford the draws weren't necessarily going our way so being out here and being able to focus in on that is something we have to carry over on Friday."

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Team Stats

Miranda Stinson

Sophie Castillo

Carly Cox

Darby Kiernan

Players Mentioned

Sarah Brown

Anna Collawn

Carly Cox

Kelsie Garrison

Sadie Grozier

Darby Kiernan

Bridget Mitchell

Samantha Nemirov

Annika Nissen

Blair Sisk

Miranda Stinson

Players Mentioned

Sarah Brown

Anna Collawn

Carly Cox

Kelsie Garrison

Sadie Grozier

Darby Kiernan

Bridget Mitchell

Samantha Nemirov

Annika Nissen

Blair Sisk

Miranda Stinson