Colorado University Athletics
Maddie Shoup Had a Pair of Goals to Help Lead the Buffs to an 11-9 win
CU Dunks DU 11-9 in NCAA Tournament Second Round Match
May 10, 2026 | Lacrosse
Buffaloes Punch Ticket to Their First NCAA Quarterfinals in Program History
BOULDER, Colo. – The Colorado Buffaloes' (16-3) dream season marches on after an 11-9 win over the Denver Pioneers (16-4) in an all-Centennial State showdown in the NCAA Tournament Second Round Sunday afternoon at Prentup Field in Boulder. The win gives CU its first berth in the NCAA Women's Lacrosse Tournament Quarterfinals in program history.      Â
The game was a re-match of the two teams' tilt on April 15 in Denver, when Colorado earned a 9-6 victory and like in that game, the Buffs were led by chief Pios pulverizer Rachel Kennedy. The junior, who had five goals in the previous game against Denver, added three more and an assist to lead all players with four points.  After vanquishing Jacksonville in comeback fashion 10-9 on Friday, who Colorado also defeated earlier in the season, the Buffs head into the next round having won nine straight games, their second-longest winning streak in history. The win also closes the book on a perfect home season, with the Buffaloes finishing 9-0 in games played in Boulder while racking up a record number of home wins.       Â
"We knew it was going to be a battle," said head coach Ann Elliott Whidden. "A little bit of a tough start for us, but similar to Friday I'm just proud of our team for sticking with it, believing and just going one play at a time to get ourselves back in. I thought we played some really controlled poised lacrosse down the end, especially in the offensive end in our ability to execute. This is an awesome moment for us, just to be able to be going to the next round and back to Northwestern where we started the season."
Colorado found itself down 4-1 early and had to dig out of a three-goal deficit, its largest comeback of the season, before erupting for five goals in the second quarter, which proved to be the difference. The comeback was keyed by Kennedy, who had two goals in the second to tie the game at 5-5 and then give Colorado a lead they would not relinquish.
"The past few years when the momentum has shifted to the other team we've had a hard time coming back but this year we've found ways to shift that momentum and that's where we've found some pretty successful moments especially today," said Lily Assini. "Being down early, we knew that we could still get the job done and there was a lot of the game left. Just having that faith in ourselves and knowing that no matter what they're doing just focusing on our gameplan and knowing eventually it's going to turn out."Â Â
Teagan Ryan added three goals of her own while Maddie Shoup scored twice and chipped in an assist for the Buffaloes. Assini contributed a goal and had two assists that were crucial to the second quarter comeback. Goalkeeper Elena Oh was also typically stingy with seven saves to anchor CU's stellar defense.Â
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The Buffs out-shot the Pios 29-18 while also holding a 21-16 advantage in shots on goal.    Â
How It Happened
After Shoup put the Buffs on the board with a goal less than a minute into the game, the Pioneers rattled off four straight goals, two of them by Olivia Ripple, to seize an early 4-1 edge. Ryan ended the quarter with her first goal off an assist from Molly Reed to cut the DU advantage to 4-2 after one. Â
Assini found the back of the net with 12:57 to go in the second quarter before Ripple added her third to put Denver ahead 5-3. Three of DU's first five goals were scored while a man-up. Colorado then closed the half with four straight goals to grab the advantage for good. Shoup added her second goal of the half before Kennedy hit paydirt twice in a little over two minutes to give CU a 6-5 edge. Ryan then took a pass from Assini and scored with just 58 seconds to go to send Colorado into the break up 7-5. Â
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With 12 goals between the two teams scored in the first half, both squads tightened things up defensively in the second half. Jaimey Hill scored with 9:59 to go to open the scoring in the third quarter before Kyra Obert added a goal for the Pios to make the score 8-6. Rowan Edson then found the net with 7:13 to go give Colorado a 9-6 advantage until DU's Caroline Bowers scored with just 48 seconds left to trim the Buffs lead back to two at 9-7.Â
Both teams scored twice in the fourth quarter, with CU getting goals from Kennedy and Ryan to seize an 11-7 cushion before conceding a pair of goals to hold on to the 11-9 triumph.     Â
Up Next
Having already prevailed in two rematches this tournament, the Buffaloes will get one more as they travel to Northwestern for their first-ever NCAA Quarterfinal match-up. Colorado kicked off the 2026 season by beating the Wildcats, who were ranked #2 at the time, 10-9 on Feb. 9. The game will be played at Northwestern's Martin Stadium on May 14 and will be broadcast on ESPNU. Game time is still to be announced. Â
"I think it's awesome and a testament to our mentality all season long and this senior class," said Whidden of advancing deeper into the tournament than ever before. "I think it's huge. Obviously, we're just focused on the one game in front of us and just taking it one game at a time and trying to get there but this is huge for this team. Being able to start at Northwestern, we had a little bit of a tough middle of the season for us but down this last stretch we regrouped and found the fun back in playing. Playing to win instead of playing to lose and this is an awesome moment for this program and we're going to enjoy it. I feel like we've been on the go since the Big 12 championship, it's been refocus, refocus, refocus and while we have a quick turnaround to go to Northwestern we need to enjoy this moment a little bit and then we'll get refocused on Northwestern again."
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Notes
This is the 10th Elite Eight appearance by a Colorado team in history and the first since the women's basketball team in 2002… Attendance was 1,380, the largest crowd for a lacrosse game at Prentup Field.. Shoup's two goals give her a team-high 43 for the season and 95 for her career, 10th most in program history… Kennedy's hat trick was her eighth of the season and ninth of her career…  Ryan has now scored in nine straight games, a span in which she's tallied 18 goals… Reed led the Buffs with three Ground Balls… The NCAA Women's Lacrosse Final Four will be hosted by Northwestern and played at Martin Stadium.     Â
For more information on Colorado Lacrosse, please visit cubuffs.com/wlax. Fans of the Buffs can follow @cubuffswlax on Instagram, X, TikTok, and Facebook.
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The game was a re-match of the two teams' tilt on April 15 in Denver, when Colorado earned a 9-6 victory and like in that game, the Buffs were led by chief Pios pulverizer Rachel Kennedy. The junior, who had five goals in the previous game against Denver, added three more and an assist to lead all players with four points.  After vanquishing Jacksonville in comeback fashion 10-9 on Friday, who Colorado also defeated earlier in the season, the Buffs head into the next round having won nine straight games, their second-longest winning streak in history. The win also closes the book on a perfect home season, with the Buffaloes finishing 9-0 in games played in Boulder while racking up a record number of home wins.       Â
"We knew it was going to be a battle," said head coach Ann Elliott Whidden. "A little bit of a tough start for us, but similar to Friday I'm just proud of our team for sticking with it, believing and just going one play at a time to get ourselves back in. I thought we played some really controlled poised lacrosse down the end, especially in the offensive end in our ability to execute. This is an awesome moment for us, just to be able to be going to the next round and back to Northwestern where we started the season."
Colorado found itself down 4-1 early and had to dig out of a three-goal deficit, its largest comeback of the season, before erupting for five goals in the second quarter, which proved to be the difference. The comeback was keyed by Kennedy, who had two goals in the second to tie the game at 5-5 and then give Colorado a lead they would not relinquish.
"The past few years when the momentum has shifted to the other team we've had a hard time coming back but this year we've found ways to shift that momentum and that's where we've found some pretty successful moments especially today," said Lily Assini. "Being down early, we knew that we could still get the job done and there was a lot of the game left. Just having that faith in ourselves and knowing that no matter what they're doing just focusing on our gameplan and knowing eventually it's going to turn out."Â Â
Teagan Ryan added three goals of her own while Maddie Shoup scored twice and chipped in an assist for the Buffaloes. Assini contributed a goal and had two assists that were crucial to the second quarter comeback. Goalkeeper Elena Oh was also typically stingy with seven saves to anchor CU's stellar defense.Â
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The Buffs out-shot the Pios 29-18 while also holding a 21-16 advantage in shots on goal.    Â
How It Happened
After Shoup put the Buffs on the board with a goal less than a minute into the game, the Pioneers rattled off four straight goals, two of them by Olivia Ripple, to seize an early 4-1 edge. Ryan ended the quarter with her first goal off an assist from Molly Reed to cut the DU advantage to 4-2 after one. Â
Assini found the back of the net with 12:57 to go in the second quarter before Ripple added her third to put Denver ahead 5-3. Three of DU's first five goals were scored while a man-up. Colorado then closed the half with four straight goals to grab the advantage for good. Shoup added her second goal of the half before Kennedy hit paydirt twice in a little over two minutes to give CU a 6-5 edge. Ryan then took a pass from Assini and scored with just 58 seconds to go to send Colorado into the break up 7-5. Â
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With 12 goals between the two teams scored in the first half, both squads tightened things up defensively in the second half. Jaimey Hill scored with 9:59 to go to open the scoring in the third quarter before Kyra Obert added a goal for the Pios to make the score 8-6. Rowan Edson then found the net with 7:13 to go give Colorado a 9-6 advantage until DU's Caroline Bowers scored with just 48 seconds left to trim the Buffs lead back to two at 9-7.Â
Both teams scored twice in the fourth quarter, with CU getting goals from Kennedy and Ryan to seize an 11-7 cushion before conceding a pair of goals to hold on to the 11-9 triumph.     Â
Up Next
Having already prevailed in two rematches this tournament, the Buffaloes will get one more as they travel to Northwestern for their first-ever NCAA Quarterfinal match-up. Colorado kicked off the 2026 season by beating the Wildcats, who were ranked #2 at the time, 10-9 on Feb. 9. The game will be played at Northwestern's Martin Stadium on May 14 and will be broadcast on ESPNU. Game time is still to be announced. Â
"I think it's awesome and a testament to our mentality all season long and this senior class," said Whidden of advancing deeper into the tournament than ever before. "I think it's huge. Obviously, we're just focused on the one game in front of us and just taking it one game at a time and trying to get there but this is huge for this team. Being able to start at Northwestern, we had a little bit of a tough middle of the season for us but down this last stretch we regrouped and found the fun back in playing. Playing to win instead of playing to lose and this is an awesome moment for this program and we're going to enjoy it. I feel like we've been on the go since the Big 12 championship, it's been refocus, refocus, refocus and while we have a quick turnaround to go to Northwestern we need to enjoy this moment a little bit and then we'll get refocused on Northwestern again."
  Â
Notes
This is the 10th Elite Eight appearance by a Colorado team in history and the first since the women's basketball team in 2002… Attendance was 1,380, the largest crowd for a lacrosse game at Prentup Field.. Shoup's two goals give her a team-high 43 for the season and 95 for her career, 10th most in program history… Kennedy's hat trick was her eighth of the season and ninth of her career…  Ryan has now scored in nine straight games, a span in which she's tallied 18 goals… Reed led the Buffs with three Ground Balls… The NCAA Women's Lacrosse Final Four will be hosted by Northwestern and played at Martin Stadium.     Â
For more information on Colorado Lacrosse, please visit cubuffs.com/wlax. Fans of the Buffs can follow @cubuffswlax on Instagram, X, TikTok, and Facebook.
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