Colorado’s first regular season women’s lacrosse game under the new lights at Prentup Field will have to wait for another year.
The weather on Friday scuttled CU’s plans for a festive finale to the regular season, yet the 23rd-ranked Buffaloes still managed to make the most of Senior Night.
Hosting a Pac-12 rival for the final time, CU shook off the sudden change of venue to run away from Oregon, capping the regular season with a 20-8 victory at the Indoor Practice Facility. The Buffs had been set to play at Prentup for the first time since the 2018 Pac-12 tournament, but after a lightning delay paused pregame warmups the match ultimately was moved indoors.
The Buffs (11-5, 5-2 Pac-12 Conference) matched a season-high goal total, reaching 20 goals for the third time in four games while making a resounding bounce-back effort after scoring a season-low six goals in a 15-6 loss at USC last week. The Buffs improved to 17-1 all-time against Oregon.
CU already was locked into the third seed for next week’s final Pac-12 tournament regardless of the result, but the Buffs put together a crisp all-around effort, outshooting the Ducks 36-14 overall with a 31-9 advantage in shots on goal.
The Buffs will play in the second first-round game on Wednesday at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum against the sixth seed, which will not be determined until the final Pac-12 regular season games are played on Friday. That opponent could still be the Ducks, although Oregon could also still get bumped out of the six-team field via upset wins on Saturday by California (at No. 19 Stanford) and San Diego State (home against No. 21 USC).
The Buffs’ lead was just 5-3 at the end of the first quarter, but CU outscored the Ducks 8-3 in the second. The Buffs scored six goals in a row from the end of the first half through the start of the second half, building an 11-point lead midway through the third quarter.
CU leading scorer Madeline Pisani led the offensive onslaught, recording a career-high seven goals, ending a mini-slump after Pisani scored only three goals in the previous two games. Ashley Stokes scored four goals for the Buffs while Eve Hritzuk added three.
No. 23 CU Buffs women’s lacrosse 20, Oregon 8
Oregon 3 2 1 2 — 8
Colorado 5 8 3 4 — 20
Goals — Oregon: McCarthy 4, Taylor 2, Cummins, Santucci. Colorado: Pisani 7, Stokes 4, Hritzuk 3, Assini, Dodd, Gardner, Kennedy, Shoup, Zimmerman.
Assists — Oregon: Wright 2, Rismani. Colorado: Dodd, Zimmerman.
Goalies (Min.-goals allowed-saves) — Oregon: Hubbard (39-13-7); Eckert (21-7-4). Colorado: Heintz (53-7-1); Brower (7-1-0).
