Third quarters have been a problem for the Colorado women’s lacrosse team for much of the season.

One more sub-par third quarter all but ended the season for the Buffaloes.

The Buffs’ tenure as the hosts of the first Big 12 Conference women’s lacrosse tournament was brief, as CU suffered an 18-12 defeat against Arizona State in a semifinal matchup on a rainy Thursday night at Prentup Field.

Nothing will be official until the 29-team field for the NCAA Tournament is revealed Sunday night, but Thursday’s loss for the second-seeded Buffs likely was a season-ending defeat. The Buffs fell to 8-8 overall and dropped to No. 28 in the RPI.

Arizona State will face top-seeded, fourth-ranked Florida for the first Big 12 tournament title and an automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament on Saturday at Prentup.

“All year long we struggled in the third quarter, so that’s not fully new,” CU head coach Ann Elliott Whidden said.

“You look at it, and it’s the first minute and the last minute of that quarter and we let in four goals, and that’s the difference between us playing an even quarter and not.

“I think just game management a little bit on our end was lacking in those moments, and it led to a four-goal swing.”

The Buffs scored twice in the final 67 seconds of the first half to pull within 6-5 of Arizona State at the break. But ASU scored four of the first five goals of the second half, then added two more in the final 21 seconds of the frame to take a 13-8 lead going into the fourth.

As the rain intensified once again during the fourth quarter, the Sun Devils poured it on as well, scoring the first four goals of the fourth to put the Buffs in an insurmountable nine-goal hole.

“I don’t think we capitalized on all the opportunities we could’ve capitalized on,” CU fifth-year senior Madeline Pisani said. “We let the shot clock wind down a little bit on some of our possessions and we should’ve gotten into some set plays a little bit earlier. We didn’t really put away every opportunity that we should’ve.”

Pisani enjoyed one last big-time performance on her home turf, finishing with four goals and three assists.

One of the top scorers in program history, if Thursday was Pisani’s last game, she finishes her career ranked sixth all-time at CU in goals (117), tied for seventh in points (157), and tied for seventh in assists (40). Pisani’s 68 points this season ranks seventh among CU’s all-time season leaders, and her 26 assists rank fourth.

The shots on goal were even at 23-23, but CU posted an overall shot advantage of 37-32. However, the Buffs frequently were turned away by ASU goalie Katie Vahle, who finished with 11 saves.

“I think the story of this team is resilience,” Elliott Whidden said.

“Every time we gained some momentum, something we can’t control occurred. I think they bounced back every single way, and unfortunately this week was no different for us.”