MPSF Lacrosse Results, Mar. 28-29
March 29, 2017 No. 4 Colorado 9, Delaware 7
Recap by Colorado
NEWARK, Del. -- The fourth-ranked Colorado women's lacrosse team improved to 11-0 after a thrilling 9-7 victory against Delaware on Wednesday night.
Seniors Johnna Fusco and Cali Castagnola each recorded a hat-trick in the victory and senior Paige Soenksen made 13 saves to hold the Blue Hens to just seven goals, which tied their season low.
WHAT HAPPENED: The Buffs got out to a slow start, allowing the Blue Hens to score their first goal less than three minutes into the game (27:22). CU was able to respond with its first goal of the game at 18:56 when senior Katie Macleay found the back of the net after a quick pass from junior Carly Cox.
The Blue Hens did not wait long to retake the lead, scoring another marker at 18:23. But, just like UD had done, the Buffs responded with Castagnola's first of the game at 17:57. Fusco tallied her first marker at 10:27 to give CU its first lead of the contest (3-2).
The two sides exchanged goals before the end of the first half with the Blue Hens notching a goal at 7:09 and Fusco recording her second at 2:44.
Delaware was quick again to start the second half, recording two straight goals at 29:32 and 27:22 to take a 5-4 advantage.
Freshman Jen Mistretta tied the game up a short time later (25:56) with her first career goal. Sophomore Miranda Stinson scored CU's second straight goal at 15:37 to again give the Buffs a lead at 6-5.
The Blue Hens were not backing down and just like they did to start the game, they recorded another quick pair of goals (13:25, 12:16) to give them a 7-6 lead late in the game.
But the Buffs were not finished and had plenty of time to work with before the clock would expire. Castagnola evened the game at 8:33 and Fusco put the Buffs back on top at 7:23 with her third goal of the game. Castagnola recorded her hat-trick at 2:42 to wrap-up the game for the Buffs.
DEFENSE: For the third time this season, Soenksen recorded 10 or more saves. She had 19 in the 11-10 overtime win against No. 9 Northwestern and earned 16 in the 16-11 win at No. 6 Penn State.
KEY STATISTICS: Delaware out-shot the Buffs 26-22, which included 20-13 on goal. UD also had the edge in draw controls (12-6), turnovers (16-23) and caused turnovers (14-10). The Buffs converted on 2-7 free-position shots and did not allow the Blue Hens to score a goal on three opportunities. CU had 13 saves to UD's four.
Brown 14, Cal 13
Recap by Cal
SAN DIEGO - A back-and-forth battle that saw California lead by five goals at one point did not end the way the Golden Bears wanted it to, as Brown held on and defeated Cal, 14-13, Wednesday night from the San Diego State campus. Now with the nonconference portion of the schedule completed, the Bears (2-9, 0-2) have six MPSF contests left as they attempt to clinch a berth in the conference tournament.
Wednesday's loss was Cal's fourth one-goal loss this season, and the fourth out of the last five losses overall.
Jena Fritts, Cal's leading scorer this season, paved the way for the Bears with five points on four goals and an assist. Elizabeth Pellechi also scored twice while Susie Roppcollected two assists, adding to her team-leading total in that category.
Defensively, Meredith Haggertyled Cal with three ground balls and two caused turnovers, while Chloe Landry notched seven draws.
The Bears' defensive leader, Jenny Wilkens, garnered another double-digit save performance with 10 stops against Brown. It was the 13th of her career and her seventh this season.
After Brown took a 3-2 lead halfway through the first half, Cal scored six unanswered goals to take an 8-3 lead at the 11:22 mark in the opening half.
Brown started chipping away at the lead and trailed Cal, 8-6, at halftime. Brown then went on to score three of the first four goals of the second half to tie the contest at nine with just over 22 minutes left in regulation.
Fritts scored back-to-back goals to give the Bears a 12-10 lead at the 16:40 mark, but Brown followed that by scoring the next four goals, which proved to clinch the game for them.
Cal travels north to face No. 9 USC on Sunday, April 2, at 2 p.m. from the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. That contest can be seen live on the Pac-12 Networks. Following the clash with the Trojans, the Bears return to Berkeley for four of the final five games of the regular season.
No. 15 Virginia 15, Oregon 7
Recap by Oregon
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. - The Oregon women's lacrosse team wrapped up a stretch of eight straight road games and its non-conference schedule on Wednesday with a 15-6 loss to No. 15/17 Virginia at Klockner Stadium. How it Happened: The Ducks (7-5) got off to a fast start, scoring three goals in a span of less than two minutes to race out to a 3-0 lead. Shannon Williams, the MPSF leader in goals and points, got things going for Oregon with a goal less than two minutes into the game, and added another at the 26:59 mark with a tremendous back-handed goal in traffic. Thirty-five seconds later, Williams found Mariah Gatti for a goal to extend the Ducks' lead. Virginia (7-4) responded with two goals to make it a one-goal game before senior Bella Pyne scored with 15:56 left in the half to push Oregon's lead to two. A pair of Cavalier goals in a span of just 10 seconds tied the game, and another score gave Virginia the lead with four minutes to go. The Ducks got a free-position shot with 11 seconds left to try and tie it, but were turned away and the Cavaliers took a 5-4 lead into the break. It was Virginia that got off to a quick start in the second half, scoring two goals in the opening minute to extend its lead to 7-4. The Cavaliers added another goal at the 24:06 mark to push their scoring run to 6-0 and take a four-goal lead. Junior Jill Zubillaga ended Virginia's run with 19:42 to play, scoring off another assist by Williams to pull the Ducks within three, but the Cavaliers brought their lead back to four five minutes later with a goal. Gatti scored her second of the game with 11:43 remaining to get Oregon back within three, but Virginia answered once again with two quick goals to make it 11-6. The Cavaliers would finish the game on a 6-0 run to pull away for the win. Who Stood Out: Williams finished the game with a team-high four points, scoring twice and dishing out two assists, to build on her MPSF-leading totals in goals (37) and points (53). Gatti also scored twice to give her 30 goals this season, moving her into a tie for second on the team with Pyne, who scored once. Zubillaga added the sixth goal of the day for the Ducks. Senior goalie Becca Katzen matched her career-high with 12 saves. What it Means: Oregon finishes its eight-game road trip with a 4-4 record, and enters the homestretch of the regular season at 6-4 overall and in fourth place (3-1) in the MPSF with four conference games remaining. The Ducks went 4-4 against non-conference opponents. Notable: Cambi Cukar was held without an assist, and remains four shy of matching the UO all-time record with 110 for her career ... Zubillaga now has 11 goals in the last five games after not scoring in her first 26 career games ... Pyne led the Ducks with four draw controls ... The Ducks were out-shot by the Cavaliers, 36-15 ... Virginia controlled the draw controls throughout the day, 17-6 ... Virginia's Avery Shoemaker finished with a game-high five goals. Up Next: The Ducks return home to face No. USC next Friday, April 7 (1 p.m.), in their first game at Pape Field since February 19. Oregon's game against the Trojans is the first of four conference games to close out the regular season.
Mar. 28
Stanford 10, HARVARD 9
Recap by Stanford
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- A second-half surge and Elizabeth Cusick's game-winning goal with two seconds remaining propelled No. 19 Stanford past Harvard in a thrilling 10-9 victory Tuesday night as the Cardinal pushed its win streak to six.
Stanford (7-2) came out to score first with Anna Salemo putting away her 13th of the year, but the half was dominated by the Crimson, as Harvard (5-4) ripped off four straight goals. The hero of the night, Elizabeth Cusick, took advantage of a yellow card to snap the slide as she added two of her four goals, but Harvard added two more to close out the half with a 6-3 lead.
After the break Stanford emerged a different team by flipping the script after Harvard bested the Cardinal in shots, ground balls and turnovers in the first period. Anna Salemo started it again for the Cardinal, but the Crimson answered with two more to open up its biggest lead of the night with the score holding at 8-4 with 20 minutes remaining.
Stanford remained composed as it went to work chipping away at the Crimson lead to rattle off five unanswered goals with Dillon Schoen spearheading the effort with two of her own to take a 9-8 lead with five minutes remaining.
Coming down to the last minute of play, Harvard's Maeve McMahon scored with 25 minutes remaining to make overtime imminent. Dillon Schoen came up huge for the Cardinal again to force a turnover with 13 seconds remaining before Elizabeth Cusick blasted the game-winning goal past the Harvard keeper with only two seconds remaining.
The Cardinal remains out east this week as it sets to take on Yale on Saturday. Game time is set for 3 p.m. PT in New Haven, Conn.
UMBC 20, UC Davis 7
Recap by UCD
CATONSVILLE, Md. -- Sophomore midfielder Taylor Cuenin posted a hat trick while Kate Fellner and Kate Graham each added two assists, but UC Davis had an early 4-3 lead wither to a 20-7 loss against UMBC in non-conference women's lacrosse action Tuesday afternoon.
The Aggies slip to 4-6 for the season. The Retrievers improve to 7-4 overall.
Cuenin had two of her goals in the first 10 minutes of play to help craft UC Davis' early lead. Graham, senior Melissa Kellan, junior Kelsey DeJesus and sophomore Shannon Cross added one goal each. DeJesus also had an assist and a game-high five draw controls.
For UMBC, Lauren McDonald scored six goals while Sara Moeller added five goals and four assists for nine total points.
The Retrievers scored three straight goals to ignite a 10-2 run after UC Davis took its initial lead, holding a 13-6 edge at the halftime break. The Aggies managed just one Cuenin goal in the second half, getting outshot by a 21-10 margin after the intermission.
Overall, UMBC finished with sizable margins in shooting (42-22), ground balls (22-11) and turnovers (12-24), although UC Davis won the battle on draws at 16-11.
The Aggies continue their Spring Break road trip at Mount St. Mary's on Thursday. Game time is 1 p.m. Pacific.