Colorado
12-5, 5-2Pac-12
UC Davis
9-8, 2-5Pac-12
Buffs Defeat UC Davis, Advance in Conference Tournament
May 01, 2024 | Lacrosse
LOS ANGELES, Calif. — Colorado Buffaloes senior attacker — Madeline Pisani — led her team Wednesday evening with a career-high nine points (6 G, 3 A) in a 13-10 win over UC Davis. With the Buffs win, it will advance them to the tournament semi-finals tomorrow night against tournament host USC Trojans.
Colorado moves to 12-5 on the year overall, while UC Davis falls to 9-8 and is eliminated from the conference tournament. After a 5-0 scoring run by the Buffaloes in the second quarter, UC Davis made a valiant effort, but couldn't muster enough for a comeback win.
"We knew this UC Davis team was gonna come out here at this point of the season," head coach Ann Elliott Whidden said. "Everyone's playing for another day, no one's given anything after this point and so we expected it to be a battle but we were prepared for them to play a little different. I thought we did an okay job in the moments we needed to but not great over the 60 minutes of just taking control when it was right there. I think we could have taken control and made this easier but at the same time I'm proud of our fight, proud of our ability to handle some emotions and make the plays we needed to get this win.
After scoring seven times in the last game, Pisani tallied six goals and three assists Wednesday night, giving her 62 goals and 75 points on the year. She scored or assisted on nine of the teams' 13 goals in the contest. Only Ashley Stokes had more points (11) in a single game by a Buff this season.
Pisani is just the fourth Buff ever to record 60 or more goals in a season, and the first to do it since Charlie Rudy had 66 last season. Her per game goal average is at a 3.65 clip and would break the school record if that were to stand.
Maddie Shoup and Emily Dodd were the only other Buffaloes on the night to notch multiple goals on the night. Shoup added two caused turnovers to her effort, while Dodd also had three draw controls.
Stokes posted three points on the night, between one score and two assists. She's now up to 26 assists on the year, two short of her career-high she set last year.
Freshman Aidan Carr continues to be a dominant draw control specialist for CU, and has recorded double-digit draw controls in four consecutive games after posting 10 tonight in the win over UC Davis. Her season total is up to 97 DC's, the fourth-most in a single season in school history.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Pisani opened things up for the Buffs, scoring in the first 20 seconds of the game. After a scoreless seven minutes, Pisani added her second score of the game to put CU up 2-0. Maddie Shoup captured the third goal for the Buffs with 3:42 remaining in the first period. The Aggies broke the CU scoring run with one of their own goals in the final two minutes of the quarter.
UCD claimed the second goal of the night, to kick off the second quarter. The Buffaloes answered back thanks to Pisani's third goal of the game and Rachel Kennedy's first, putting them up 5-2. Pisani found the net once more, extending the lead to four. Shoup scored her second goal at the 5:46 mark in the second, giving CU a five-point lead. Chasing six points, the Aggies broke up a 5-0 CU scoring run, bringing the score 8-3 in favor of the Buffs.
Trailing 8-4 going into the second half, the Aggies inches closer with their fifth goal to open the quarter. Another Aggie goal at the 13:08 mark brought the CU lead to just two. UCD netted their seventh score of the game, thanks to Cami Johnson. Molly Reed broke the 4-0 scoring run by UCD with her first score of the game.
UC Davis scored their eighth goal with six minutes remaining in the third quarter. Ashley Stokes responded quickly to put Colorado back up by two. Just like last time, the Aggies answered back, bringing them to within one score with three minutes left in the third period. Dodd would score exactly one minute later, keeping the Buffs in front by multiple goals.
After a scoreless third quarter, Pisani broke open the scoring in the fourth quarter, giving her five scores on the night. She tallied another with 3:58 left in regulation, putting the Buffs up 13-9. UC Davis would grab one more score with a minute remaining but it wouldn't be enough, leading to a Colorado win.
FINAL QUOTE
"I think obviously it's a tough turnaround, playing tonight and then having to turn around late tomorrow night when the other teams aren't playing, but we've been in this situation before," Whidden stated. "We were in it last year, and we came out with the win. So I think we know what we're capable of doing. We know that none of those factors really matter. It just matters that our mentality and how we come out here prepared to play. We're going to have to do a good job of controlling the pace of the game and the things that we can control and we're gonna have to grind it out for 60 minutes, but I think this team's ready, we're prepared and we'll be more prepared than we were last time we faced them."
GOAL SCORERS
Madeline Pisani - 6
Maddie Shoup - 2
Emily Dodd - 2
Rachel Kennedy - 1
Molly Reed - 1
Ashley Stokes - 1
UP NEXT
The Buffs will play the no. 2 seed USC Trojans tomorrow night at 7:00 p.m. PST, with a trip for the championship game on the line.
SOCIAL MEDIA COVERAGE
Lights on, first draw up next! ??#GoBuffs pic.twitter.com/y6aARYSIUi
— Colorado Buffaloes Lacrosse (@CUBuffsWLax) May 2, 2024
Stay on ?? 29!
— Colorado Buffaloes Lacrosse (@CUBuffsWLax) May 2, 2024
Pisani with her third score and fourth point of the game#GoBuffs pic.twitter.com/Iah6W8Kyt5
Molly Reed breaks the scoring drought!
— Colorado Buffaloes Lacrosse (@CUBuffsWLax) May 2, 2024
We are up two. #GoBuffs pic.twitter.com/sR8zcJy3L1
