Colorado
5-2
Marquette
2-5
Buffs Take Care of Business Against Marquette
March 08, 2024 | Lacrosse
Four Buffaloes Tally Hat Tricks
MILWAUKEE, Wis. — Nine different Buffaloes scored for a season-high 17 goals Friday afternoon to lift No. 19 Colorado over Marquette by a score of 17-11.
Colorado earns their fifth win on the season, and sit at 5-2 record through seven games. Marquette is now 2-5 with the loss against the Buffs. CU has now won four of their five games on the road and will enter Pac-12 Conference play next week.
Coach Ann Elliott Whidden said, "Excited to get the win today. Slow start for us but I thought they responded out of the timeout. We had a lot of different people contribute and make plays on both ends, our middies got involved offensively and defensively which was awesome to see. Good win for us overall, Marquette is a tough team that is fights for everything and challenged us today, their record does not reflect their ability or heart. Proud of us for our fight and making plays we needed to."
Among the nine separate scorers for the Buffs, four of those players had multi-goal performances: Reed (3), Stokes (3), Pisani (3), and Hritzuk (3). It was an all-around team effort for Colorado, as they also had seven different players with at least one assist, and eight overall for the game which marks a season-high.
Second-year player Molly Reed had a career-high three goals and three draw controls in the win. It's her first career game with multiple goals.
Ashley Stokes recorded her first hat trick of the season, along with two ground balls and two caused turnovers. She has scored in every contest this season.
With her three goals on Friday, Madeline Pisani has now scored three or more times in all seven games this season. She has 27 goals on the year and leads the conference.
Eve Hritzuk led all Buffs with four points on the day, including three goals. She now has 17 goals on the young season and has tallied three or more goals in four games this season.
The Pennsylvania product — Maddie Shoup — was all over the field for CU during Friday's win. Shoup had one goal, one assist, and team-highs in ground balls (3) and caused turnovers (2).
MILESTONES
Making her season debut, Morgan Pence wasted no time getting back to facilitating the Colorado offense. She recorded her 100th career point (70 G, 30 A) after she assisted a Hritzuk goal with 5:14 left in the first quarter. She ended with two assists on the day seeing limited time.
Danielle Heintz tallied her 100th career save with her fourth save in the third quarter. She now has 50 saves in seven games this season.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Golden Eagles kicked off scoring in the first, with a goal from Hanna Bodner, to gain a 1-0 lead. Colorado's Molly Reed scored her third goal of the season to knot things at one with 12:28 left to go in the quarter. Marquette nabbed the next three scores, including one on a man-up opportunity.
Pisani notched her first goal of the game on a free-position shot with 6:32 left to bring the Buffs within two goals. CU's second leading scorer, Hritzuk, scored a minute later to inch even closer. Lily Assini and Sydney Zimmerman scored in the final five minutes of the quarter, rounding out the 4-0 run the Buffaloes made in the back half of the first 15 minutes of play.
Marquette quickly tied it back at five in the second quarter, thanks to another score from Bodner. Ashley Stokes reclaimed the lead for the Buffaloes with an impressive backhanded slap shot into the back of the net in the thirteenth minute.
Hritzuk converted her second goal of the game on a man-up opportunity, to take a 7-5 lead. Reed, less than a minute later, also scored her second goal of the game to give Colorado their largest lead of the day. Maddie Shoup joined the cause, scoring the ninth goal on the afternoon for CU with 3:29 left in the first half.
Tess Osburn found her groove in the final minutes of the half, scoring once on a man-up opportunity and a following goal on a free-position shot to cut her teams' deficit to one goal going into the break.
The senior Stokes came out firing in the second half, scoring her second goal of the game in the fourteenth minute in the third quarter. Just like her first goal, Pisani scored goal No. 11 for CU on a free-position shot to earn a three-point advantage.
Marquette's leasing scorer, Meg Bireley, tallied her first score of the game to cut the Colorado lead to two. The Sophomore, Reed, recorded her third score of the game to extend the Buffs' lead back to three. Another two goals from Stokes and Rachel Kennedy gave the Buffaloes a commanding 14-9 lead after three quarters.
Pisani scored to open the fourth quarter, once again from the free-position line. The Golden Eagles attempted at a late comeback with back-to-back goals, but CU answered back with goals from Emily Dodd and Hritzuk, putting the game to an end in favor of the Buffaloes.
KEY MOMENT
After trailing 4-1 early in the first period, the Buffs switched a gear and would go on to score seven of the next eight goals to go up 8-5 in the second quarter. The Golden Eagles would never recover as they would score six goals the rest of the way, while Colorado would put up a team-high in goals for the season.
GOAL SCORERS
Madeline Pisani - 3
Ashley Stokes - 3
Molly Reed - 3
Eve Hritzuk - 3
Sydney Zimmerman - 1
Emily Dodd - 1
Rachel Kennedy - 1
Lily Assini - 1
Maddie Shoup - 1
FINAL QUOTE
UP NEXT
Colorado ends their non-conference part of the schedule, and will begin Pac-12 play next week. They will take on Stanford at home on Friday, March 15 at 3 p.m.
"Looking forward to starting pac12 play,"coach Whidden said. "I think our nonconference has challenged us in a lot of ways between travel and competition. We will use this week to get better and get ready for a Stanford team who is playing very well right now and has a lot of different players who can step up for them."
SOCIAL MEDIA COVERAGE
?? 100th Career Save ??
— Colorado Buffaloes Lacrosse (@CUBuffsWLax) March 8, 2024
Danielle Heintz picks up her 100th save in front of the net!#GoBuffs pic.twitter.com/4FDkKs7iiA
Heads up play by Molly ??
— Colorado Buffaloes Lacrosse (@CUBuffsWLax) March 8, 2024
First career ?? trick for the sophomore!
?? @flosports #GoBuffs pic.twitter.com/TKKxIJcex7
That's goal No. 2?5?
— Colorado Buffaloes Lacrosse (@CUBuffsWLax) March 8, 2024
Madeline brings us within two.#GoBuffs pic.twitter.com/7b2FoIajfx
