BOULDER, Colo. – No. 18 Stanford made history by playing in the first-ever Pac-12 Conference lacrosse game on Friday. But the Cardinal could not hold a seven-goal lead and fell at No. 19 Colorado, 18-16.
Stanford (3-3, 0-1 Pac-12) led 12-5 in the first half and led by six at intermission, but the host Buffaloes outscored the Cardinal 12-4 after the break. Colorado (4-2, 1-0) shut out the Cardinal over the final 14:15, and scored the game's final six goals.
Senior Maggie Nick poured in six goals -- the second-most in a game in school history and the most since Kelsey Murray had six on April 17 against Cal last season. In addition, junior Genesis Lucero tallied the second-most draw controls in a game in school history -- she is the first to record nine in a game since she did so against UCONN last season. Lucero is the only player in program history with nine or more draw controls in two different games.
Lucero with 9? draw controls ??
— Stanford WLAX (@StanfordWLax) March 10, 2018
Also one away from tying the single-game school record #GoStanford pic.twitter.com/KEONQMRDYn
Pac-12 lacrosse officially got underway when sophomore Daniella McMahon won the conference's inaugural draw control.
McMahon also scored Stanford's first Pac-12 goal at the 24:21 mark of the first half.
The lead changed hands three times in the early going. Murray scored back-to-back goals to put Stanford up 3-2, but Colorado got the next two. Taylor Scornavacco and Areta Buness scored to give Stanford a 5-4 advantage at the 17:07 mark.
Stanford took over for the rest of the half. Nick scored three times in just over five minutes, and Scornavacco added another in that time for a 9-4 lead with 10:20 to go before intermission. The Buffaloes got one back, but the Cardinal scored the next three as Ali Baiocco notched a pair in the span of 44 seconds, and Scornavacco finished off a first-half hat trick.
Colorado scored the first five goals of the second half to get within 12-11 at the 20:19 mark. However, Stanford responded with four of the next five scores. Nick had three of those, including the last one, which gave the Cardinal a 16-12 lead with 14:15 to go.
The Buffaloes tied it with 7:54 to play and, less than a minute later, took a lead they would not surrender.
Stanford led in shots (43-38) and draw controls (21-15). Senior Allie DaCar made nine saves, while Murray led the team with three ground balls. Nick and Buness added three draw controls apiece, and Julia Massaro contributed a pair of ground balls and two draw controls. All three of Stanford's losses have come against Top 20 competition.
Stanford wraps up its four-game road trip that has taken the team from California to North Carolina, Colorado and Oregon. The Cardinal takes on the Ducks at 3 p.m. PT on the Pac-12 Network.
Stronger together #internationalwomensday #GoStanford
A post shared by Stanford Women's Lax (@stanfordwlax) on Mar 8, 2018 at 2:16pm PST
#GoStanford