Colorado
7-6, 5-2
Stanford
7-7, 5-2
Colorado Falls To Stanford
April 21, 2023 | Lacrosse
STANFORD – Colorado lacrosse suffered an 18-13 defeat to the Stanford Cardinal here Friday evening at Cagan Stadium in a pivotal game for second place in the conference as the regular season nears an end.
The Buffaloes (7-7, 5-3 Pac-12) started out slow in the first quarter, finding themselves trailing the Cardinal (8-7, 6-2 Pac-12) by four goals within the first five minutes of the game. Colorado was then able to fight back to an 8-6 deficit at halftime.
"In the beginning of the game we were just missing simple things defensively and made it too easy for them. Offensively, we were taking good opportunities but missing shots. Their goalie played well and came up with some good saves," head coach Ann Elliott Whidden said. "Once we started competing on draws, settling in on defense, we were able to get a few shots to fall and get back in."
After making it close in the second quarter, CU couldn't seem to stick with Stanford in the third quarter which has been a reoccurring issue for the Buffs this season.
"Defensively, we need to be more locked in. We are allowing a few cheap goals in transition that we can do better on," commented Whidden. "We needed to generate more possessions through draws or stops on defense and struggled there in the 3rd."
Colorado's highest scoring quarter came in the fourth, proving to be too little too late for the Buffs. Charlie Rudy recorded her 13th hat trick in 14 games this season after scoring six times today while Morgan Pence also scored three goals, adding to her one assist.
The Buffaloes have two games left to play in the regular season, but they will focus on one game at a time as they turn their attention to Cal on Sunday.
"We have to put together a full 60 minutes on Sunday. We need this win for many reasons, but we need to play to the level we know we are capable of for ourselves."
"That is the most defeating part of today - we just didn't execute at the level we know we can, and that's hard to accept. We have been inconsistent from game to game, and we need to find that consistency. Playing Friday and Sunday is tough. We have a lot of players who played today and can step up for us Sunday. This will be key for us," Whidden ended with.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
Stanford started off hot, scoring three goals within the first five minutes of the game. Colorado called its first timeout while trailing 3-0. Right out of the timeout, a CU turnover on a clear attempt allowed the Cardinal to score another goal to go up 4-0. Ashley Stokes put the Buffs on the board with a goal assisted by Pence. With 1:53 remaining in the quarter, Rudy scored on a cut across the middle to shorten the Colorado deficit to just two at 4-2. CU scored their third unanswered after a score from Pence as the Buffs were down 4-3 heading into the second.
The Cardinal scored quickly in the second quarter on a free-position attempt. Wasting no time, Colorado put the ball in the back of the net on a fast break following a win at the draw. Sam McGee tied things up for the Buffs with a free-position goal with 8:47 to go in the half. Stanford answered with back-to-back goals to make it 7-5. Shortly after, both teams traded goals as Colorado faced an 8-6 deficit at halftime.
CU gave up a goal in the first 26 seconds of the second half as Stanford went up three goals. Following a stop on the defensive end, Rudy responded with a goal for the Buffs to make it 9-7. With 5:32 remaining in the third quarter, three unanswered goals gave the Cardinal a 12-7 lead to force a Colorado timeout. Out of the break, McGee picked up her second goal of the day as Colorado trailed 12-8. Consecutive scores by Stanford gave the Cardinal a 14-8 lead heading into the fourth.
Early in the quarter, Stanford extended its lead to seven. With under eight minutes left in the game, Colorado tried to fight its way back into the game following two goals from Rudy, making it 16-10. Rudy scored two more goals to bring the Buffs within five at 17-12, forcing a Stanford timeout with 4:37 left to go.
From there, each team found the back of the net one more time for Stanford to close out the day with an 18-13 win.
UP NEXT:
Colorado Lacrosse will take on the Cal Golden Bears in Berkeley on Sunday, April 23rd at 2:00 p.m. MT.
