On Saturday, March 20, the Colorado women’s lacrosse team played Stanford at Kittredge Field. Graduate defender Kate White and senior defender Madi Wifall prepare to help defend their goal. March 20, 2021. (Lauren Eppich/CU Independent)
The Colorado women’s lacrosse team had a successful St. Patrick’s Day weekend, winning their games against the No. 21 Stanford Cardinal on Friday, March 17, and the California Golden Bears on Sunday, March 19.
On Friday, Colorado beat the Stanford Cardinal, 17-15. During the match, sixth year attacker Sam McGee scored five goals on seven shots. Stanford started the game out strong, scoring less than a minute in and quickly grabbing hold of a 4-1 lead in the first quarter.
Going into the second quarter, the Buffs still trailed 4-3, but they soon went on a four-point scoring run to take 7-4 lead. In response, the Cardinal scored four more goals, and the two teams were tied 8-8 by halftime. During the third quarter, Stanford and Colorado continued to exchange blows. Both teams scored plenty of goals, with freshman midfielder Mary Carson scoring her first career collegiate goal as CU trailed 13-14.
During the electric final quarter, Colorado locked up Stanford defensively, only letting in one goal. Meanwhile, they put up four goals of their own. Senior goalie Grace Donnelly made some impressive saves, helping the Buffaloes secure their 17-15 victory on Friday.
“We were down by three goals or so a couple of times, and we were able to respond as a team and get ourselves back in the game,” said head coach Ann Elliot Whidden. “At the end of the day, our players on offense and defense made the little plays that turned into big plays, and that was huge for us.”
For Sunday afternoon’s game, the Buffaloes barely broke a sweat, as they throttled the California Golden Bears 20-3 in an offensive clinic in Boulder.
Colorado won the face-offs early and snatched a 4-0 lead within minutes, outplaying California in almost every aspect of the game. The Buffs stifled their opponent’s offense, only letting in nine attempted shots all game. By halftime, Colorado led by 10 points, 12-2. For the rest of the game, Colorado’s offense continued crush California. Ashley Stokes scored four goals, while McGee, Charlie Rudy and Liz Phillips scored three goals each.
This game saw several new faces as well, as Whidden subbed in younger players for quality minutes in the blowout match. Despite having more younger, inexperienced players on the field, Colorado kept their foot on the gas for all 60 minutes and dropped a season-high 20 goals on the Golden Bears. After this landslide win, the CU team now has a three-game winning streak — a promising turnaround after their 0-4 start to the season.
“We made a couple of changes regarding the lineup,” Whidden said. “Overall, our players are buying into doing little [plays] to make bigger plays come a little bit easier for us on both ends of the field.”
For their next matchup, Colorado hopes to keep their winning streak going when they face the No. 18 University of Southern California Trojans later this week.
“It’s going to be a tough challenge for us,” Whidden said. “If we can keep our confidence up from these last three games and continue to commit to those little [plays] and find that balance, I think it will be a good, hard-fought game.”
The Buffs will face the Trojans in Los Angeles at 4 p.m. MST on Friday, March 24.
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Griffin Dreifaldt at griffin.dreifaldt@colorado.edu.
