The Colorado lacrosse team raced out to a 10-2 lead on California on Sunday at Kittredge Field, and while the teams played pretty even the rest of the way, the Buffaloes’ lead was never in danger in a 16-10 victory.
Sadie Grozier highlighted the Buffs offense with six goals, while Grace Donnelly had 14 saves to get the Buffs to 8-2 overall and 3-2 in the Pac-12.
“It’s our ability to stay focused and stay committed to the things that got us that lead,” head coach Ann Elliott Whidden said. “We played well for most of the game. We could have done things better to make things easier for us in the end. We’ve got to continue to work on executing on Sundays after playing a tough game on Friday.”
Coming off their 17-16 win against No. 24 Stanford, CU had a 3-0 run in the first quarter and a 5-0 run in the second quarter to race out to a 10-2 lead at 8:37 in the second quarter.
Cal (0-11) would respond, as it cut CU’s advantage to five (10-5) with 12:57 left in the third quarter. The Buffs responded with another 3-0 run to take a 13-5 lead with 8:20 remaining in the third. The back-and-forth continued as the Bears used a 5-1 run to get within four of the Buffs, 14-10, with just over 10 minutes to play in the game.
“We are playing a competitive schedule in the Pac-12,” Whidden said. “You’ve got to expect that the (opponent’s) going to respond. For us, it’s our ability to stay focused and stay committed to the things that got us that lead and execute in the moments that we need to execute.”
Colorado kept that focus, as the team buckled down defensively and got timely goals from Sam McGee and Grozier. The Buffaloes’ defense did not allow a goal in the final 10:28 of the game.
“As the game came down to the end, we were composed and we did a good job being in control and finishing, which is big for us,” Whidden said.
Grozier’s six goals tied a career-high, and it was the fourth time she has scored six goals in a game including three times this season.
CU takes to the road this week, facing the same Stanford and Cal teams they faced this weekend.
