Grozier Leads No. 25 Colorado Past Oregon

EUGENE, Ore. – University of Colorado fifth-year senior attacker Sadie Grozier recorded four goals and led the Buffaloes to a 13-11 win against Oregon on Friday at Papé Field.
 
Three of Grozier's four goals came in the second quarter, which put the Buffs up 7-5. Her fourth goal was in the fourth quarter. Teammates Sam McGee and Morgan Pence also had hat-tricks in the win. Grace Donnelly led the CU defense with seven saves in goal.
 
Colorado, which is ranked No. 25 in the IL Women/IWLCA DI Coaches Poll, improved to 6-2 on the season with the win, which was also its first Pac-12 Conference win of the season (1-2). Oregon is now 1-6 on the season, 0-3 in Pac-12 play.
 
"We're glad to get the win today," head coach Ann Elliott Whidden said. "Tonight was a game we needed to win and we got it done. It wasn't pretty and wasn't our best, but we got the result we needed. I believe in this team a lot; they need to believe in themselves and we have to start executing at the level we are capable of as a team."
 
WHAT HAPPENED: Colorado got on the board first when McGee picked up a dropped pass and fired it into the net less than a minute into the game.
 
The Buffs recorded the next two goals. Pence scored a man-up goal less than 30 seconds into Lillian Stump's yellow card at 9:17. Liz Phillips recorded another goal for the Buffs half a minute later to put CU up 3-0.
 
After getting four shots on net, the Ducks were able to get their fifth past Donnelly with 5:22 left in the frame. As the clock ran out in the quarter, Oregon got the last word in the quarter, scoring with nine seconds remaining.
 
CU led 3-2 entering the second quarter, but UO recorded the next two goals of the games, scoring at 12:44 and 10:44. Their lead was short-lived as Katie Haley tied it back up (8:22) with her second goal of the season.
 
The Buffs' leading goal scorer, Grozier, had not scored a goal in two games, but got the monkey off her back, scoring her 19th goal of the season at 6:25. With the pressure off, she found the back of the net 30 seconds later to put CU up 6-4.
 
Oregon scored its fifth goal at 5:21, but Grozier answered with her third of the game (2:54), which started a 3-0 Colorado scoring run to end the half. Katie Giordano and McGee also had goals in the run to put the Buffs up 9-5.
 
The Ducks started the second half with a pair of goals to cut the Buffs' lead to two (9-7). There would be no scoring on either side for the next 10 minutes before Pence scored her second goal on a free-position opportunity at 2:33. She scored her third of the day with 1:10 left in the frame off a pass from Kasey Braun, putting Colorado back up by four (11-7).
 
But as the final seconds ran out in the quarter as they did in the first quarter, Colorado gave up a last-second goal in the third quarter. Katie Collins was fouled with seconds left to play and converted on the free-position chance. Oregon opened up the scoring in the fourth quarter as well, cutting the Buffs' advantage again to two (11-9).
 
McGee and Grozier each added another goal for the Buffs in the fourth quarter with just under seven minutes to play. The Ducks were not going away though and continued their battle with CU. They scored two quick goals within 30 seconds of each other with 5:29 remaining, once again getting within two goals. But the Buffs defense was able to hold off the Ducks' attack and hung on for the first conference win of the season.
 
"We made some strides from last week and are excited to build on that," Whidden said. "We head into spring break and have some time to focus on ourselves without classes. We're excited to get back to Boulder and get to work as we prepare for a big home weekend with Stanford and Cal."
 
UP NEXT: Colorado returns to Boulder to finish the first half of Pac-12 play. The Buffs host Stanford on Friday, March 25 and California on Sunday, March 27.
 
NOTABLE:

• The Buffs are 12-0 against the Ducks, including a 5-0 record in Eugene.
• Colorado is 63-10 overall when scoring the first goal, including a 3-0 record this season.
• Morgan Pence scored the second man-up goal of her career, the first of the season
• Sadie Grozier ended a two-game scoring drought, recording a hat-trick in the second quarter
• Grozier now has 20 games with three or more goals
• Grozier was one of three CU players with three or more goals in the game
  • Pence recorded her second career hat-trick
  • McGee recorded her second hat-trick as a Buff
• Colorado is 2-2 on the road this season

 
 
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