Colorado
Arizona State
The No. 20 Buffaloes to Host Arizona State and Kent State
April 11, 2024 | Lacrosse
BOULDER — The No. 20 Colorado Buffaloes will host Arizona State and Kent State this weekend for two games. The first matchup will be Friday against the Sun Devils at 3 p.m. MST, followed up by a game against the Golden Flashes on Sunday at 12 p.m. MST.
The Buffs are fresh off a big road conference win over UC Davis this past week and are 8-4 (3-1, Pac-12). ASU is entering Friday's contest with a 7-6 (2-2, Pac-12) record, and have won their last two games including a league win over Cal. Kent State is 5-9 but won their previous game over Akron.
"This is a really exciting weekend for us," head coach Ann Elliott Whidden said. "We are glad to be home for this two game weekend, the weather is supposed to be great and we hope to get a good crowd at our games. Obviously Friday is a huge game for us being a conference game."
The most experienced player on the roster, Ashley Stokes, is arguably coming off the greatest game of her career after posting six goals and two assists in the win against UC Davis.
She is one of three CU players this season with six or more goals in a game, Eve Hritzuk did it in the season opener against Louisville, and Madeline Pisani also tallied six goals in the game at Davis.
Pisani earned her career-high with those six goals on Saturday, and scored four of her six goals in the second half. Her season total is now up to 43 after 12 games, which is the most goals in the first 12 games career started by a player in program history.
Her and Stokes combined for 12 goals in the win, the most by a pair of CU teammates since Pisani and Hritzuk had 11 the first game of the season. Stokes and Pisani are also the only pair of teammates to score in every game thus far this season.
Jess Peluso has been nothing short of impressive all season long, locking it down on one half of the field for the Buffs. Peluso has 28 caused turnovers in a dozen games, which comes out to averaging 2.33 CTO 's per game. She has logged multiple CTO's in four consecutive games and has had at least one CTO in the last 11 games.
"This is a good Arizona state team - talented, tough and scrappy," coach Whidden said. "They have played a great non-conference schedule to prepare them for these conference games just like us. We know the importance of this game and coming out strong, it's a game we have to find a way to win. We have been focused this week and are looking forward to Friday. Sunday we get another opportunity to play Kent State, we have to go one game at a time and get it done Friday, but we are looking forward to the two game weekend as that prepares you for tournament time and outside of last week with our 3 games in 8 days, it's been a while since we've had these two game weekends. We know it'll be a quick turn around and we will have to regroup and refocus quickly after Friday to be successful Sunday."
INSIDE THE SERIES
Colorado holds a 7-3 advantage all-time over the Sun Devils, and have claimed the last two showdowns. CU is 4-1 in the series when playing in Boulder and will look to continue their success this weekend.
Kent State and Colorado have never met on the lacrosse field and Sunday's event will be the first.
GAME INFO
Live stream for Friday's game can be found here. Live stats found here.
Live stream for Sunday's game can be found here. Live stats found here.
