Colorado
11-7, 7-3Pac-12
USC
15-3, 9-1Pac-12
Buffs Fall To USC In Pac-12 Championship
May 06, 2023 | Lacrosse
BERKELEY – In a rematch of the 2019 Pac-12 championship game, Colorado lacrosse suffered a 12-6 defeat to the USC Trojans here Saturday afternoon. The Buffs have now made it to four Pac-12 championship games as a program but have been unable to win one.
The Buffaloes (11-8, 7-3 Pac-12) struggled clearing the ball against the Trojans (16-3, 9-1 Pac-12) today, converting just 14 of 23 clear attempts. The offensive possessions for CU resulted in only 10 shots on goal compared to USC's 23.
"USC is a great team that put us under a lot of pressure, but we're capable of handling it better," head coach Ann Elliott Whidden stated after the game. "I think just some of that tiredness from playing three games in four days caught up to us and cost us some opportunities in some key moments where we could have tried to switch the momentum."
"Outside of that, I thought we played hard, we competed on both ends, and we played the whole game with a good mindset and mentality, and this team has a lot to be proud of there."
When Colorado did possess the ball, it was unable to produce enough goals to keep up with the Trojans. Morgan Pence scored five of CU's six goals while Charlie Rudy added one goal and one assist.
Defensively, Grace Donnelly had 11 saves with a 47.8 save percentage. Sophie Halus recorded three caused turnovers and three ground balls and Karly van Leer recorded two caused turnovers and three ground balls.
As a result of their performances in the tournament, Rudy, Pence and Donnelly were all named to the Pac-12 All-Tournament team.
Despite the loss this afternoon, the Buffs surprised a lot of people this season after their 0-4 start. They went 11-4 in the final 15 games and made it to their fourth Pac-12 championship game in program history.
"I think we've grown a lot since the beginning of this season. It stinks for us to be in this position because I think this team could compete in the NCAA Tournament, but because of our slow start it kind of cost us any chance of getting in without winning today," Whidden said. "That part hurts. I think I could have done a better job in the beginning of the season to help us be in a different position now and these guys deserve that. So that part is on me.
"But I think the future for us moving forward is exactly what you saw this weekend, you know. It's very bright for us, and we're excited about this team and how they represented us this week."
HOW IT HAPPENED:
USC was the first to strike this afternoon, scoring within the first four minutes of the game. Later in the quarter, the Trojans scored again to take a 2-0 lead following a Colorado turnover. The Buffs surrendered another two goals in the quarter, heading into the second trailing 4-0. CU was only able to put up one shot in the quarter compared to USC's 11.
Pence put Colorado on the board with a bounce-shot goal early in the quarter. A minute later, the Trojans responded with a goal to make it 5-1. With 6:18 remaining in the first half, Rudy scored on a free-position attempt to bring the Buffs within three at 5-2. USC was able to score two more goals in the quarter while Rudy picked up another goal as well. The Trojans held a 7-3 lead at halftime.
On a player-up opportunity in the third quarter, Colorado made it 7-4 with a goal from Pence assisted by Ashley Stokes. Pence was able to score again to cut the CU deficit to just two at 7-5. Shortly after, the Trojans managed to score a goal while player-down to take a 9-6 lead. Heading into the final quarter, the Buffs had a two-player advantage while down three goals.
USC killed the two penalties in the fourth quarter which led to a goal, putting the Trojans up 10-6 with 10:18 remaining in regulation. USC extended its lead to five at 11-6, forcing a Colorado timeout with just under eight minutes to go. The Trojans ended up winning the game 12-6.
