Women's lacrosse: CU Buffs knock off USC to advance to Pac-12 title game
May 2—Amid what has turned into an impressive late-season surge for the Colorado women's lacrosse team, the Buffaloes turned in one of their worst performances of the season two weeks ago at USC.
The Buffs more than made amends on Thursday.
Madeline Pisani once again paced the offense and the Buffs picked up their biggest win of the season, knocking off USC 12-9 in the Pac-12 semifinals on the Trojans' home turf at the LA Memorial Coliseum. Third-seeded CU advances to the Pac-12 title game for the second consecutive season and will face Stanford with an automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament on the line on Saturday (1 p.m. MT, Pac-12 Network).
The 24th-ranked Buffs also improved their status for a potential at-large bid for the 29-team NCAA Tournament. CU (13-5) entered Thursday's match at No. 25 in the RPI with a 1-5 mark this season against the teams ranked ahead of it.
The Buffs are now 2-5 in those such games, recording both wins away from home — against USC on Thursday, and at Penn State on Feb. 16. Thursday's result was CU's sixth win in the past seven games.
CU scored four of the first five goals of the game and built an 8-5 lead at halftime. The Buffs outscored USC 2-0 in the third quarter and took an 11-5 lead one minute into the fourth quarter on a goal from Rachel Kennedy. USC scored the game's final three goals, but CU held the Trojans scoreless over the final 6 minutes, 33 seconds to secure the win.
Pisani paced CU's offense with four goals, while Eve Hritzuk recorded two goals and three assists. Lily Assini also posted a pair of goals.
No. 24 CU Buffs women's lacrosse 12, No. 21 USC 9
Colorado 5 3 2 2 — 12
USC 3 2 0 4 — 9
Goals — Colorado: Pisani 4, Hritzuk 2, Assini 2, Kennedy, Reed, Stokes, Zimmerman. USC: Brown 5, Shevitz 2, Murphy, Tilton.
Assists — Colorado: Hritzuk 3, Stokes 2, Dodd, Shoup, Zimmerman. USC: Heaney 4, Tilton.
Goalies (Min-goals against-saves) — Colorado: Heintz (60-9-6). USC: Devir (60-12-9).
