Colorado
Denver
No. 20 Colorado Falls to No. 13 Denver
April 03, 2024 | Lacrosse
DENVER — The No. 20 Colorado Buffaloes dropped Wednesday night's away game by a score of 14-8 to the No. 13 Denver Pioneers.
After heading into the halftime break trailing just one, the Buffs could not manage to score in the third quarter, putting Denver in the driver's seat to win the game. The Pioneers scored seven consecutive goals between the third and fourth periods to secure an eventual win. Colorado is now 7-4 (2-1 Pac-12) while Denver improves to 8-3 on the season.
The only CU player with multiple scores in the game, Lily Assini, led the way with two first quarter goals. It's the first game in her career with multiple scores. Maddie Shoup was the other player with two goals, and it's her first multi-score game since playing Stanford last month.
Madeline Pisani and Ashley Stokes each scored once Wednesday night, and both have now scored in every game so far this season. It is the first game Pisani has not had at least two scores.
Jess Peluso recorded three caused turnovers, the third game in a row of three or more. She now has 25 CTO's on the season and leads the Pac-12.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Pioneers opened with the first score of the game, via Julia Gilbert score. Gilbert would score again, and extend her teams' lead to two goals after a free position attempt.
Lily Assini found the back of the net for the Buffaloes first, also on a free position attempt. Madeline Pisani would even things up for CU after a perfectly executed pass from Sydney Zimmerman at the 7:23 mark in the first quarter. Maddie Shoup put the Buffs up 3-2 shortly after, on another free position attempt. Assini struck once again, assisted by Ashley Stokes, to put Colorado up two.
Denver responded with a goal with less than 30 seconds to go in the first quarter, to trail by one. The home team tied things up at four, at the 10:51 mark remaining in the half. Pioneers re-gained the lead on Gilbert's third goal of the evening with just under a half to go.
Rachel Kennedy joined the scoring fun for the Buffaloes, scoring a miraculous goal to tie things up at five. Pioneers leading scorer, Gilbert found the net for the fourth time, putting her team back out front.
The Pioneers claimed the first score of the second half to go up 7-5 on the Buffs. Denver's Jane Early scored her first goal of the game over a minute later, to give DU their biggest lead of the night. Ryan Dineen contributed the fourth consecutive score for Denver, giving them a four point lead. DU poured onto their lead, with a fifth consecutive score, putting them up five with 4:08 remaining in the third period.
Caroline Colimore scored the 11th goal of the game for DU, to open up the final period of the game. Maddie Shoup would break up the 8-0 scoring run from Denver, giving CU their sixth score of the game. Ashley Stokes found the net to give Colorado their seventh goal of the game. The Buffs would add one more goal with less than 30 seconds remaining, thanks to Molly Reed, but it wouldn't be enough.
GOAL SCORERS
Lily Assini - 2
Maddie Shoup - 2
Madeline Pisani - 1
Rachel Kennedy - 1
Ashley Stokes - 1
Molly Reed - 1
UP NEXT
The Buffs will be on the road this Saturday, to take on conference opponent, UC Davis. The game will be at 2:00 p.m. MST.
SOCIAL MEDIA COVERAGE
Buffs are battle tested ??#GoBuffs pic.twitter.com/Dgg7Q6RgEN
— Colorado Buffaloes Lacrosse (@CUBuffsWLax) April 4, 2024
Dodd ?? Zimmerman ?? Pisani ?? Tie Game#GoBuffs pic.twitter.com/T3xeOqWmNP
— Colorado Buffaloes Lacrosse (@CUBuffsWLax) April 4, 2024
Rachel Kennedy, are you kidding me ??
— Colorado Buffaloes Lacrosse (@CUBuffsWLax) April 4, 2024
Miraculous shot and SCORE#GoBuffs pic.twitter.com/QjKJGXrsmv
