Colorado Lacrosse Falls to Stanford

Colorado LACROSSE Falls to Stanford, 16-9
 
STANFORD, Calif. – In a battle of nationally ranked women's lacrosse teams, the No. 24 Colorado Buffaloes fell to the No. 25 Stanford Cardinal, 16-9, here Friday at Laird Q. Cagan Stadium.
 
For Colorado, Sadie Grozier, Charlie Rudy and Kasey Braun each tallied two goals.
 
Stanford was led by Ali Baiocco's seven goals on 10 shots. The Cardinal outshot Colorado (46-30), with 33 shots on goal. The Buffaloes' Grace Donnelly recorded 17 saves.
 
Four of Donnelly's six saves in the first quarter were on free-position shots for Stanford. Colorado trailed 5-3 after the opening frame.
 
"In the beginning of the game, (Donnelly) did a great job keeping us in (it), making some big saves," Whidden said on the broadcast. "It came down to giving (Stanford) too many chances."    
 
Stanford opened up their lead in the second quarter, scoring three straight goals to take a 9-4 lead at halftime. The Cardinal held Colorado scoreless for the last 8:20 of the first half.
 
"We beat ourselves tonight in that first half," Whidden said. "You cannot do that against a good team. We have to do a better job executing and playing clean lacrosse. We struggled on the draws and in transition and that hurt us in the end."
 
The Buffaloes fall to 8-3 (3-3 Pac-12), while Stanford improved to 7-5 (5-1 Pac-12).
 
WHAT HAPPENED: After a Cardinal goal to open the game, Rudy scored two goals in 37 seconds as the Buffaloes took what would be their only lead of the game, 2-1, at the 8:45 mark of the first quarter.
 
Stanford responded with four straight goals to take a 5-2 lead with 1:10 remaining in the quarter, but
Colorado fought back with a free-position goal from Liz Phillips with 33 seconds left to cut the Cardinal advantage to 5-3.
 
Following a Cardinal goal to open the second quarter, Braun scored her first goal of the game at the 8:20 mark to get Colorado within two goals, 6-4.
 
Stanford scored the last three goals of the half as they took a 9-4 advantage at intermission.
 
The Cardinal opened the scoring just 67 seconds into the third quarter, as Baiocco netted her fifth goal of the game at that point. Grozier came back 36 seconds later to cut Stanford's advantage to 10-5, but the Buffs would get no closer, as Baiocco scored two more times less than a minute apart midway through the period.
 
Sam McGee scored her 18th goal of the season that cut the margin to 12-6 with 6:14 left in the quarter, but Ailish Kelly scored twice in the final two minutes of the stanza to pad the Cardinal edge to 14-6.
 
In the fourth quarter, Colorado got goals from Morgan Pence and Grozier to bring the Buffs within six of the Cardinal, 14-8 with 10:21 remaining.
 
After the final two Stanford goals, Braun scored her second goal of the game with 28 seconds left to close the night's scoring as the 16-9 win gave the Cardinal a split of the season series with CU.
 
NOTEWORTHY: Donnelly's 17 saves were a career-best effort. It was her fourth career game with 13+ saves (second straight, had 14 saves against Cal at home last Sunday).
 
UP NEXT: The Buffaloes end their two-game road trip at California on Sunday (2 p.m. MT, Pac-12 Mountain).
 
"We have to be more confident from the start on Sunday and do a better job executing the little things," Whidden said. "Sunday is a big game for us, one we need to win if we want to give ourselves any chance at the Pac-12 championship or bye in the tournament."
 
NOTABLE:

• The Buffaloes are now 2-3 on the road this season.
• CU is now 7-11 all-time against Stanford.
• Braun recorded her second career multi-goal game.

 
TEAM LEADERS