Buffaloes Stampede Past Fresno State for 10th Straight Win

BOULDER — Colorado's fourth ranked women's lacrosse team improved to 10-0 after cruising past Fresno State, 19-6, Saturday afternoon at Kittredge Field.

The win also put the Buffs at 3-0 in Mountain Pacific Sports Federation play, while the Bulldogs are now 7-3 overall (0-2 MPSF). Senior Johnna Fusco tied a career-high five goals to lead Colorado, while fellow senior Katie Macleay added a hat-trick.

WHAT HAPPENED: After missing two straight games last week, Fusco returned to action Saturday and scored CU's first goal of the game at 27:41. The Buffs tallied three more goals from Macleay, Marie Moore and Cali Castagnola before Fresno State got on the board with a marker at 22:58.

The Buffs, who are also ranked sixth in the coaches' poll, got on a roll after that, scoring seven consecutive goals to go up 11-1 and start a running clock with 10:20 remaining in the first half.

In that span, FS was forced to make a goalkeeper change, removing starter Laurel Maunder after 10:27 for back-up Natalie Chaffin. The Bulldogs stopped the clock at 8:39 with a goal by Nicole Ortlieb, but CU answered just 12 second later with Carly Cox's first goal of the day to go back up by 10. The two teams exchanged goals before finishing the half with the Buffs up 13-3.

FS earned the first goal in the second half at 27:43, but again the Buffs got hot and recorded a 6-0 run to take a commanding 19-4 advantage. The Bulldogs added two goals to their score late in the second half (19-6) but were no match for the stampeding Buffs.

DEFENSE: Colorado held FS to its lowest score of the year (six goals). Prior to this, FS's lowest score was eight in a 13-8 loss to Coastal Carolina on March 8. This is the sixth time in 10 games the CU defense has held its opponent to a season-low.

The Buffs caused 12 of Fresno State's 21 turnovers. Fusco, Sarah Brown and Darby Kiernan all had two caused turnovers while Kelsie Garrison, Molly Rovzar, Castagnola, Maddie Hunt, Amelia Brown and Blair Sisk each came up with one.

Senior goalkeepers Paige Soenksen and Sophia Gambitsky split time in the cage for the Buffs, both allowing three goals and recording two saves. Soenksen started the game and Gambitsky played the entire second half.

OTHER PERFORMANCES: A trio of Buffs, Kiernan, Castagnola and Samantha Nemirov, each had two goals in the win. Kiernan also added three assists for five points while leading both teams with six draw controls. Macleay also had five points with two assists in addition to her three goals.

KEY STATISTICS: Colorado out-shot the Bulldogs 31-5 in the first half and then 18-6 in the second half (49-11 for the game). The Buffs had the edge in ground balls (21-13) and draw controls (16-11) and FS had 21 turnovers in the game compared to just 11 for the Buffs. CU also cleared on 10 of 11 attempts, while FS cleared on nine of 15 tries.

TEAM LEADERS:

Colorado
Points: 26
Goals: 19
Assists: 7
Draw Controls: 16
Ground Balls: 21
Saves: 4

Fresno State
Points: 10
Goals: 6
Assists: 4
Draw Controls: 11
Ground Balls: 13
Saves: 19

NOTABLE:

Darby Kiernan and Katie Macleay have scored at least one point in every game this season.
Johnna Fusco has recorded at least one point in all eight games she has played in this season.
This is the fourth time in Fusco's career she has recorded five goals in a single game.
The five goals by an individual is a CU record, which has happened 13 times.
The 10-0 start to the season is the best in CU history, as well as the longest win streak in school history.
CU has also won 10 straight home games dating back to last season.
This is the seventh time this season CU has posted 15 or more goals.
For the sixth time in 10 games (five at home) the Buffs have had a running clock.
The 49 shots by the Buffs is a CU single-game record. Prior to this, the record had been 44 (set on Feb. 26, 2017 against UC Davis).

UP NEXT: Colorado is back on the road next week. The Buffs will take on Delaware on Wednesday, March 29 and on Friday, March 31, CU will face its fifth ranked opponent this season in [7/9/9] Stony Brook.

QUOTEABLE:
Head Coach Ann Elliott
"I think overall we did a better job than Sunday [against Oregon]. As a full effort we have to do a better job offensively finishing our opportunities and controlling the game down the stretch. I think we did a good job. "

"We have been working on defense this week and I didn't think we played well against Oregon. I don't think we have been playing as a team on defense so we focused in on that. I thought we did a decent job overall, but there are little things that we are letting slide that we can't let slide as we continue to go into the season. We will focus on that this week for sure."

"We learned this morning that Johnna could play. We put her on the field and I thought she did a good job getting back into it. I thought our offense in general did a good job of working together to get those opportunities. We just need to finish at a higher percentage than we are right now."

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Buffaloes Stampede Past Fresno State for 10th Straight Win

Next Event

Team Stats

Johnna Fusco

Katie Macleay

Cali Castagnola

Samantha Nemirov

Players Mentioned

Amelia Brown

Sarah Brown

Cali Castagnola

Carly Cox

Johnna Fusco

Sophia Gambitsky

Kelsie Garrison

Maddie Hunt

Darby Kiernan

Katie Macleay

Marie Moore

Samantha Nemirov

Molly Rovzar

Blair Sisk

Paige Soenksen

Buffaloes Stampede Past Fresno State for 10th Straight Win

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Next Event

Team Stats

Game Leaders

Johnna Fusco

Katie Macleay

Cali Castagnola

Samantha Nemirov

Players Mentioned

Amelia Brown

Sarah Brown

Cali Castagnola

Carly Cox

Johnna Fusco

Sophia Gambitsky

Kelsie Garrison

Maddie Hunt

Darby Kiernan

Katie Macleay

Marie Moore

Samantha Nemirov

Molly Rovzar

Blair Sisk

Paige Soenksen

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