Lacrosse braves mountain schools, stays undefeated in MPSF

April 4, 2016, 1:19 a.m.

No. 12 Stanford women’s lacrosse rebounded from a thrashing by Stony Brook by taking down two conference foes this weekend, beating Denver (4-7, 1-3 MPSF) 9-5 and Colorado (8-3, 3-1) 12-10. The Cardinal improved to 8-2 and 3-0 in the MPSF, where they sit in second place behind undefeated No. 7 USC.

On Friday against Denver, the teams traded goals for most of the first half, but Stanford was able to eke out a 1-point lead going into halftime. The Cardinal committed 11 first-half turnovers, but their defense held the Pioneers at bay: Stanford only allowed Denver to score five goals off its 15 shots, thanks to sophomore goalie Allie DaCar’s stellar performance in the goal. The sophomore had seven of her 10 saves in the first half.

Though Denver’s Christa Reese scored two consecutive goals to tie things up after Stanford came out of intermission with a goal of its own, the Cardinal ended the game on a 4-0 run — with goals from four different scorers — over the final 11 minutes that sealed the victory.

While the Cardinal continued to struggle with turnovers — notching eight in the second half — and with ground balls (18-8), they were dominant in draw controls (12-5) and saw widespread offensive productivity: Five different scorers helped push Stanford over the Pioneers in the team’s first full game without Lucy Dikeou, who has been sidelined after going down with an injury against Stony Brook.

After getting off to a good start against Colorado on Sunday, in which Stanford secured a 5-1 lead with 11 minutes to play in the first period, the Buffaloes stormed back to tie the game at 5 apiece by the half.

Colorado gained the lead early in the second period, but the Cardinal scored three consecutive goals that would put them ahead for good. The Buffaloes chipped away at Stanford’s lead during the final minutes of the game — scoring two goals within less than a minute — but the Cardinal defense would finish out the game strong, ensuring that Colorado did not get any closer to closing in on Stanford’s lead.

While the Cardinal were able to pull out the win, they allowed Colorado to marginally outshoot them (19-17), lost the ground ball and draw control games (10-8 and 15-9, respectively) and committed 11 turnovers — aspects of the game the team will have to sharpen over the next half of the season and as it faces stronger competition.

Sophomore Kelly Myers scored three of her four goals of the weekend in the Cardinal’s win over Colorado, while sophomore Dillon Schoen contributed a hat trick against the Buffaloes. Junior Kelsey Murray also ended the weekend with four goals — two in each game.

The Cardinal will next travel to Oregon (8-4, 3-2) to take on the Ducks in another MPSF matchup. The game will take place on Friday at 1 p.m. and will be broadcast on the Pac-12 Networks.

 

Contact Alexa Philippou at aphil723 ‘at’ stanford.edu.

Alexa Philippou '18 is a political science major and a former Managing Editor of The Daily's sports section. She switched from the sports section to news her junior year, where she has worked on the university/local beat since. Being from Baltimore, she is a die-hard Ravens and Orioles fan who cried when the Ravens won the Super Bowl. To contact Alexa, please email her at aphil723 'at' stanford.edu.

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