No. 14 Colorado Stomps San Diego State to Take Big 12 Conference Opener

Saturday, March 28

Noon

Colorado

7-2, 1-0

San Diego State

2-8, 0-1

San Diego St.

Colorado

No. 14 Colorado Stomps San Diego State to Take Big 12 Conference Opener

March 28, 2026 | Lacrosse

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Lily Assini and Maddie Shoup Each Reach 100 Career Point Milestone in Win

By: Steve Hurlbert, Director of Strategic Communications

BOULDER – Led by the powerhouse senior attacker duo of teammates, and roommates, Lily Assini and Maddie Shoup, the No. 14 Colorado Buffaloes dominated the San Diego State Aztecs, 16-5, in their Big 12 Conference opener at Prentup Field on Saturday, Mar. 28.

The Buffaloes (7-2) continued their perfect play at home, improving to 5-0 in Boulder while also continuing their defensive mastery by holding all their opponents this season to single digits.

"A good conference game and opener for us," said Head Coach Ann Elliott Whidden. "I thought San Diego State came out and battled and definitely went hard on the offensive end and gave us a challenge there down on defense. I thought we made some good adjustments on the defensive end the rest of the game as we went and did a good job on offense."

Ultimately, it was Assini and Shoup who led the way for Colorado by combining for 11 points and each eclipsing the 100-point mark for their careers. Assini, who came into the game with 97 points, matched a career-high four goals and added two assists to bring her career point total to 103. She is tied with Marie Moore for 13th in the CU record book. Shoup, entering the day at 96, chipped in three goals and two assists to bring her career point total up to 101, which is 15th highest in program history.

"Maddie is one of my best friends," said Assini. "She's my roommate, so it's a special day for both of us and to be able to do it together has been amazing so I'm really lucky and grateful for that."

CU dominated with 40 shots to SDSU's 19 while turning the Aztecs over 19 times as opposed to eight turnovers for the Buffs. Colorado also added eight assists to San Diego State's two in the convincing victory.

How It Happened
Colorado started the game strong with two goals in the span of a minute. Jaimey Hill opened the scoring at 13:07 with an assist from Shoup before Rachel Kennedy added a goal at 12:10 to give the Buffs an early 2-0 lead.

The Aztecs answered with two quick goals of their own at 5:45 and 5:29 in the first quarter to tie the game before Kennedy put the Buffs back in front 3-2 thanks to an assist from Rowan Edson with 4:34 to go in the first. SDSU again tied the game with a goal at 2:45, but Teagan Ryan scored with just 25 seconds to go in the period with an assist from Molly Reed to put the Buffaloes ahead for good, 4-3.

CU stretched its lead with four unanswered goals in the second period to take a commanding 8-3 advantage at the half. Shoup fed Edson for a goal within the first minute of the quarter to set the tone, while Reed added a goal and Shoup scored twice, one on an assist from Assini, to give the Buffs some breathing room at the break.

The second half belonged to Assini, who scored each of her four goals in the third and fourth quarters, starting by finding the net with 13:52 in the third.

San Diego State again added a pair of goals to draw within 9-5 before Colorado put the game away with seven straight goals to close out the game, three coming from Assini, and one apiece coming from Shoup, Kennedy, Edson and Averi Gardner. In the second and fourth quarters, CU outscored the Aztecs 9-0 to cruise to the conference opening victory.

Up Next
The Buffs will travel to Gainesville, Fla., to face the Florida Gators on Saturday, April 4, at 10 a.m. MT. Fans can tune in on ESPN+.

Notes
Colorado moves to 12-0 all-time against San Diego State...This was the fourth time in her career Assini scored four times, the last coming on March 18 vs. UConn… Assini also scored four times the last time CU played against the Aztecs on March 29, 2025 at SDSU… Shoup now leads the team with seven multiple goal games this year, while Assini is second with five…Kennedy recorded her third career hat trick and the second of the season, following three goals against Towson on Feb. 21… Jess Peluso led both teams with eight of Colorado's 11 draw controls…Peluso also added a game-high five caused turnovers...This is the second time this season that two or more Buffaloes have scored a hat trick (Assini, Kennedy, Shoup), the first being in the win over Towson on Feb. 21.

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