BOULDER – The No. 20 Colorado women’s lacrosse team entered this weekend with an 8-4 overall record and in third place in the Pac-12 with a 3-1 record in the conference. With an important conference game on Friday against Arizona State, then a non-conference matchup against Kent State on Sunday, head coach Ann Elliott Whidden knew this was a pivotal weekend for her team.
Friday vs. Arizona State Sun Devils
Friday’s conference bout between the Buffaloes and the Sun Devils started poorly for Colorado, who faced an early 3-0 deficit after 2:20 of action. The Buffs weren’t able to control any of the first three draws and weren’t able to get possession in the offensive half of the field until then.
“Unfortunately, we're pretty consistent at letting in the first couple holes of the game on the defensive end,” Whidden said. “[We’ve] got to do a better job of just preparing so that it doesn't take us a couple defensive possessions to get into it.”
Shortly after the third goal, Arizona State was called for a green card, and Colorado’s Lily Assini capitalized on the man advantage opportunity. Maddie Shoup added three more in the first quarter, and the Buffs trailed 5-4 after one.
Shoup finished the game with six goals, a career-high for the sophomore midfielder.
The Buffs dominated the second quarter, scoring four goals on 18 shots while allowing in zero on the defensive end, taking an 8-5 halftime lead. Madeline Pisani scored three for her 11th hat trick of the season, and Shoup tallied another.
Whidden was pleased with her group’s ability to win the majority of the draws (four out of five) and also win the turnover battle (Colorado had one compared to ASU’s five) in the second period, but wasn’t pleased with the inefficiency of the offense.
“We should’ve been able to score more than four [goals]...” Whidden said. “We can’t go 4-for-18.”
A late yellow card in the second quarter on the Buffaloes gave the Sun Devils a man advantage heading into the third, which they capitalized on. However, a quick trio of goals from the Buffs pushed the lead back up to five just a few minutes later.
Arizona State didn’t go down without a fight and kept in the game to trail 12-9 at the end of the third quarter. An early goal in the fourth drew the deficit to two, followed by some back-and-forth scoring that found the Buffs leading 15-12 with 7:46 left in the game.
From that point on, the Buffs turned their intensity up, scoring five unanswered goals to finish out the contest. Colorado forced four turnovers and goalie Danielle Heintz had a save to shut out the Sun Devils for the rest of the game, while the offense paid it off, scoring on all but one of their final six possessions. Emily Dodd put the finishing touches on the game, scoring her second goal of the game with one second on the clock.
Shoup’s six goals were a team-high on Friday, and Ashley Stokes tallied seven assists, tying the program record.
The win gave the Buffaloes a two-game lead over the Sun Devils for third place in the Pac-12. If the Buffs want a chance at getting into the top two and having a first-round bye in the conference tournament, they need to win at USC next weekend.
Sunday vs. Kent State Golden Flashes
Sunday’s game at Kittredge Field was Colorado’s last non-conference game of the season against the 5-9 Kent State Golden Flashes. The Buffs got off to a hot start and never looked back, winning 20-5.
Stokes got the ball rolling with a goal 2:38 into the game. This was her first of seven goals to go along with four assists. The seven goals and 11 total points are both season highs for Stokes. Colorado jumped out to a 4-0 lead shortly after and ended the first quarter up 6-2.
“Last day on [Kittredge],” Stokes said. “We wanted to set the tone.”
The rest of the game was more dominant by the Buffs, who had great offensive execution coupled with tough, gritty defense to show that they weren’t playing with their food.
Stokes also had one of the best goals of the season in the fourth quarter, placing a behind-the-back shot perfectly past the Kent State goalie to increase the lead to 17-5.
Whidden was pleased with her team’s performance in the fourth quarter where they outscored the Golden Flashes 5-0 with the running clock going, but wasn’t completely satisfied with the performance.
“I would have liked us to execute better throughout the 60 minutes,” Whidden said.
One of the factors that kept this game from being blown out of the water earlier was the performance of Kent State goalie Sydney Davis, who had 20 saves. Despite her efforts, Colorado had 48 shots in the game (41 on goal), a recipe for disaster for any team.
“Their goalie played well [with 20] saves. So, credit to her,” Whidden said. “But in general for us, I think we’ve got to finish a little bit better on the offensive end, and just have a little bit more killer instinct to put a game away.”
Next Up: At USC Trojans
The Buffs (10-4, 4-1 Pac-12), ranked 21st in this week's IWCLA rankings get a full week off before traveling to Los Angeles to take on No. 22 USC (10-4, 4-1 Pac-12) in arguably the biggest game of the season. The two teams both have the same conference record as USC lost to Stanford this weekend, so it is a must-win for Colorado if they want to earn a top-two seed in the Pac-12 tournament and have a first-round bye.
Whidden said the key for next week is “focusing on just having a little bit more confidence in what we're doing and kind of that killer instinct that we lacked a little bit today. I thought we had it at the end of the Arizona State game.”
This team has shown at times this season. that if they do utilize that killer instinct, they can hang with any team and put them away late in the fourth. Sunday’s matchup in southern California starts at 1 p.m. MT and can be watched on Pac-12 Los Angeles.
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