Colorado
14-5, 9-1
Jacksonville
16-4, 5-0
Buffs Top Jacksonville For First-Ever NCAA Lacrosse Tournament Win
May 11, 2018 | Lacrosse, Neill Woelk
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Colorado senior Darby Kiernan broke her own CU record for points in a game Friday to lead the Buffs to a 23-18 win over Jacksonville, giving the Buffs their first-ever NCAA Tournament win in just the fifth year of the program's existence.
Kiernan finished with seven goals — tying the CU record she shares with teammate Miranda Stinson — and added five assists to finish with a program-record 12 points. The Buffs built a big lead early, withstood a strong Jacksonville surge, and then put the game away with a 5-0 run down the stretch in the second half.
The 23 goals was a season high for Colorado and the most since a 24-5 win over St. Mary's late in the 2017 season.
The Buffs had five players with at least three goals. Joining Kiernan with hat tricks were Stinson and Jen Mistretta with four each and Sophia Castillo and Samantha Nemirov with three apiece.
Colorado, which improved to 14-5 with the win, will now meet sixth-seed Florida in a 10 a.m. second-round game Sunday at Dizney Stadium. CU dropped a 16-9 decision to the Gators on their home turf in the second game of the year this season.
"I thought Darby did a great job of stepping up in certain areas and being aggressive and taking advantage of her opportunities," CU head coach Ann Elliott said. "As a whole, I thought offensively we did a great job of working together and finishing those opportunities."
HOW IT HAPPENED: The Buffs jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in the first three minutes of the game and built their cushion to as much as nine. A Stinson score — her third of the game — gave CU a 13-4 edge with 13:28 to play in the first half, and the Buffs pushed the lead back to nine again when Sadie Grozier's goal gave Colorado a 14-5 edge with 8:50 to play in the first half.
"Obviously we wanted to come out strong," Elliott said. "I thought we did a good job on the draws in the beginning of the game and executing offensively, but we struggled a little bit defensively making stops and that caused us a bunch of trouble."
Indeed, just when it looked like the Buffs might make it a runaway, the Dolphins rallied with five straight goals to cut CU's lead to four, 14-10. Colorado's Carly Cox finally ended the Dolphins' run with a goal with one second remaining in the half to give CU a 15-10 lead at intermission.
Jacksonville — the nation's top-scoring team — continued its comeback in the second half, cutting Colorado's lead to just three goals on two separate occasions.
But each time the Dolphins came close, the Buffs had an answer. Kiernan scored a pair of goals early in the half to keep the Dolphins at bay, then added a goal and an assist in a decisive 5-0 Buffs run to put the game away down the stretch.
With 18:39 still to play, a Jacksonville goal cut Colorado's edge to three, 18-15.
But the Buffs responded with five unanswered scores to regain control for good. Mistretta, whose four goals were a career high, started the run with a score off an assist from Castillo before Kiernan delivered on a free position shot. Stinson then scored again, Castillo notched her third goal of the game off an assist from Kelsie Garrison and Mistretta finished the run off an assist from Kiernan.
That gave the Buffs a 23-15 lead with just 7:38 to play. The Dolphins ended CU's run with a late 3-0 surge, but the Buffs were content to run out the clock and collect the win.
"I think at the end of the day it's just about trying to win a draw control and make a play on the other end," Elliott said. "I thought they did a great job on their end of continuing to come back and fight and make plays. We were fortunate enough to make just a couple more plays down the stretch, which gave us some momentum back."
While Elliott was happy with the offense and CU's first NCAA Tournament win, she also knows a much bigger task awaits Sunday when the Buffs face Big East regular season and conference tournament champ Florida.
"To be successful moving forward, we have to play a lot better defensively," Elliott said.
TURNING POINT: After the Dolphins had cut a nine-goal CU lead down to three midway through the second half, the Buffs responded with a 5-0 run to regain momentum and put the game away.
WHAT IT MEANS: In five seasons of existence, the Buffs have made two NCAA Tournament appearances and now have one NCAA win under their belts, as well as a Pac-12 regular season championship.
NEXT UP: The Buffs will face sixth seed Florida (16-3) in Sunday's 10 a.m. second-round match at Dizney Stadium.
Contact: Neill.Woelk@Colorado.edu
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