Upset bid derailed - Daily Camera

COLLEGE LACROSSE

Upset bid derailed

Colorado falls at home to No. 20 USC

Colorado’s Morgan Pence works against USC’s Claudia Shevitz during their lacrosse game Friday in Boulder. CLIFF GRASSMICK — STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

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By Pat Rooney

prooney@ prairiemountainmedia.com

There remains ample time for the Colorado women’s lacrosse team to make a push before the end of the regular season.

Still, this one was a missed opportunity to possibly reshape the final month of the year for the Buffaloes.

Despite a strong start, CU’s upset bid fell short on Friday afternoon, as No. 20 USC twice rallied from a four-goal deficit to hand the Buffs a 16-13 defeat. The match was moved from Kittredge Field to the Indoor Practice Facility due to the weather.

The win gave USC a one-game advantage in the loss column over Stanford and the Buffs atop the Pac-12 Conference standings. For CU, the defeat also ruined a chance to move forward in the RPI after beginning the week at No. 55.

“We felt like we could compete. We felt like this was a different game, although the score’s not far off, from the game at USC,” CU head coach Ann Elliott Whidden said. “This was a different battle where we were in it for the most part, and then we struggled in the second half and we really struggled in the fourth quarter even just having the ball or getting shots.”

The Buffs (6-6, 4-2 Pac-12) had won six of their previous seven games, with the only setback during that stretch being a 17-13 loss at USC on March 24. While in that game CU fell behind 16-8 through three quarters before making the score more respectable in the fourth, the Buffs jumped on the Trojans quickly on Friday.

CU took a 4-0 lead in the game’s first 5 minutes, 19 seconds. The Trojans rallied to within 6-5 early in the second quarter, but the Buffs extended the lead to 11-8 at halftime.

A goal by Charlie Rudy early in the third quarter again gave CU a four-goal lead, but the Trojans dominated the rest of the way. USC scored the next four goals to pull even at 12-12 before another Rudy tally gave the Buffs a 13-12 lead entering the fourth, yet the Trojans outscored CU 4-0 in the final frame to pull away.

The Buffs managed only three shots on goal after halftime.

“They stepped up their pressure on defense a little bit and it frazzled us a little bit in the second half,” said Rudy, who finished with a season-high seven goals. “Next time, we just have to be more composed and be a little bit more patient on the offensive end to get the shots that we need.”

With four games remaining in the regular season, the Buffs could still finish with one of the top two spots in the conference, which comes with a first-round bye at the Pac-12 tournament. That likely will require a road win next week at Stanford, but the luster of that showdown would get dulled if the Buffs don’t take care of business at home on Sunday against Arizona State (noon, Pac-12 Mountain).

“This is over now. We’re still in contention to compete,” Elliott Whidden said. “As we look at the (Pac-12) tournament, anything is still possible. Getting a bye in the first round is huge, and to do that we have to shift our focus to Sunday. We don’t have any more that we can give. We have to be successful on Sunday in order to continue to give ourselves the best chance as we get down to the end of the season.”