No. 18 Buffaloes Fall To No. 14 Michigan

ANN ARBOR, Mich. – The Colorado lacrosse team suffered its second loss of the season on Sunday, falling to 14^th-ranked Michigan, 20-7, at U-M Lacrosse Stadium.

"Obviously it was a disappointing day for us," head coach Ann Elliott Whidden said. "I thought we were ready and would come out and compete. Credit to Michigan, they played very well from the start and made it difficult for us."

CU (1-2), which entered the game ranked 18^th in the nation, fell behind early in the game and was never able to catch-up. The Buffs made several attempts, including a 3-0 run in the middle of the second half, but UM (3-1) always had a response.

"I'm disappointed in our execution on both ends of the field but specifically defensively," Whidden said. "We needed to do better and we didn't execute the small plays we talked about. We were a step behind all day and didn't have all our defenders committed to doing their job. Offensively we had opportunities and didn't finish. When you can't pick each other up on either end of the field, it makes it hard to compete against a good team."

Sophomore Charlie Rudy led CU with three goals, while junior Sadie Grozier added two. Sophomores Kate Burnside and Liz Phillips each added one for the Buffs.

Michigan was led by Maggie Kane's four goals, while four others recorded hat-tricks.

WHAT HAPPENED: Michigan scored three times in the first 90 seconds of the contest after winning the first three draw controls. Grozier was able to get the Buffs on the board with her first marker of the game at 27:05, but the Wolverines responded with a goal at 25:33 to force Colorado to take a timeout.

The timeout did not slow down the UM offense as it scored the next three goals to take a 6-1 lead with 19:32 left in the half.

The Buffaloes cut into the Wolverines' lead as Grozier netted her second goal at 19:04. Following Grozier's goal, UM's Maggie Handlan was issued a yellow card. CU won the ensuing draw control and Phillips scored the man-up goal at 18:47 (6-3).

Michigan tallied the following two goals before Rudy scored her first of the game at 12:36 (8-4), but it was all Wolverines for the rest of the half as UM increased its lead to 13-4.

Michigan scored the first four goals after the intermission, taking a 17-4 advantage before CU called its second timeout of the game with 21:32 left. UM tallied another marker before the Buffs ended their scoring drought with Rudy's second goal of the game at 16:24 (18-5).

Rudy recorded a hat-trick just two minutes later and Burnside scored her first goal of the day 90 seconds later to bring the score to 18-7 with 12:57 remaining. The momentum seemed to be shifting as the 3-0 run in four minutes seemed to ignite the Buffaloes, but the Wolverines were able to score the following goal with just over five minutes left to play (19-7), ending CU's run.

UM added one more goal in the final minute for the 20-7 win.

KEY STATISTICS: Michigan recorded 23 shots in the first half, 17 of which were on goal, as it recorded 13 goals for a commanding lead. In total, UM had 40 shots to CU's 22 in the game.

UP NEXT: Colorado opens Pac-12 Conference play on March 6 against Oregon. The game is slated for a 2 p.m. MT start at Kittredge Field.

"We have another break now and we will focus on ourselves and get better," Whidden said. "We will look at ourselves and figure out changes we need to make to be successful moving forward because this team has a lot of potential, but so far we haven't gotten results I believe we can. And we need to make some changes to get to where we want to go."

NOTABLE:

For the third straight game, Julia Lisella made 10 or more saves. This is the 20th time in her career she has recorded 10 or more.
Charlie Rudy recorded her second straight hat-trick after scoring four goals against Harvard on Feb. 21.
The Buffs led in draw controls, 15-13, with Kate Burnside recording a game-best eight.
The 13 goals allowed in the first half are the second-most allowed in one half. The most CU has ever allowed is 14, which happed on May 12, 2019, against Boston College.
The Buffs have only allowed 20 or more goals against three times and are 0-3 in those games.
CU leads the all-time series against UM 3-2, but the Wolverines have won the last two meetings.

TEAM LEADERS:

Colorado

Points: 8

Goals: 7

Assists: 1

Draw Controls: 15

Ground Balls: 11

Saves: 10

Michigan

Points: 29

Goals: 20

Assists: 9

Draw Controls: 13

Ground Balls: 18

Saves: 9

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Team Stats

Charlie Rudy

Sadie Grozier

Kate Burnside

Liz Phillips

Players Mentioned

Kate Burnside

Sadie Grozier

Julia Lisella

Liz Phillips

Charlie Rudy

Players Mentioned

Kate Burnside

Sadie Grozier

Julia Lisella

Liz Phillips

Charlie Rudy