Despite a valiant effort from junior goalie Allie DaCar, Stanford lacrosse (7-4, 2-1 MPSF) ultimately couldn’t overcome a high-firing No. 6 Colorado Buffs squad (12-1, 4-0 MPSF). The Buffs held the Cardinal to their lowest single-game shot tally all season en route to earning its first program victory over Stanford on Friday with a 13-8 final score.
DaCar tied a career-high 14 saves against a dominant Colorado offense that also put up the highest single-game shot tally on the Cardinal defense all season at 33 shots — 27 of which were on goal. DaCar especially excelled in the first half, when she accumulated nine saves after seeing an astounding 15 shots on goal.
Both offenses relied on familiar leaders for most of the production on the night. Buffs junior attacker Darby Kiernan netted a co-game-high four goals — including a hat-trick in a four-minute, four-unanswered-goals period that cemented the Colorado victory — while assisting twice, bringing her team-leading point total to 51 on the season.
In addition to Kiernan, Colorado attacker Johnna Fusco also scored four goals on the night as the senior’s last goal came only a minute after a Stanford goal and essentially cut any hopes of a Cardinal comeback with 10 minutes left on the clock.
For the Cardinal, senior Kelsey Murray remained the headline as the team-leading attacker scored a team-high two goals on the night.
The match started well for Stanford who found the back of the net after only 46 seconds behind freshman Daniella McMahon’s fifth goal of the season, yet the dominant veteran Buffs side responded quickly and decisively, scoring six unanswered goals to ultimately grab the lead for the entirety of the night.
Stanford showed resilience on the road, however, as the Cardinal fought back to within one goal early in the second half off senior attacker Anna Salemo’s 17th goal of the season coming from Murray’s lone assist of the night. However, Colorado displayed its control of the match once again by jumping on a four-goal streak that ultimately solidified a Cardinal loss.
When heading into Boulder, the Cardinal knew their work was cut out for them when returning to league action against the conference-leading Buffs. After coming back to the Farm from a mediocre east-coast road trip, the Cardinal dropped their first league game on the season and need to find a way to heighten their level of play going into a critical point in the conference season.
Stanford continues MPSF action while returning home to host the Fresno State Bulldogs (8-5, 1-4 MPSF) on Tuesday at 6 p.m.
Contact Lorenzo Rosas at enzor9 ‘at’ stanford.edu