When a team has a star player, it relies on her to come through when it needs it the most. This rang true for the Pioneers on Saturday at Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium as DU senior midfielder Kristie Leggio once again bailed her team out of a tight game.
Leggio, who is among the top scorers in the country this season, registered eight points in a thrilling victory over Mountain Pacific Sports Federation rival the University of California, 12-10.
The Pioneers got on the board early, when Leggio ripped a shot past Cal goalie Hilary Lynch only 1:37 into the game.
The Golden Bears of Cal answered immediately, however, scoring three of the next four and taking a 4-2 lead.
Firing back, Pioneer sophomore attacker Steph Coyne scored her first goal of the game to cut the lead down to one. Leggio then scored two straight goals and the Pioneers regained the lead.
The Pioneers and the Golden Bears then alternated goals before Leggio, with only 41 seconds remaining in the first half, registered her fourth goal of the game, giving the Pioneers a narrow 7-5 lead, heading into the intermission.
Starting the second half, Cal showed that they were not going away. The Golden Bears came out blistering, scoring three straight goals and regaining the lead 8-7.
Then the Pioneers answered back by scoring five goals in the next 10 minutes of play to take a 13-10 lead, their largest of the game.
DU, who had won their previous three games by a combined 34 goals, held on for a narrow 14-12 victory and stayed undefeated in MPSF play with a 5-0 record. The game marked the Pioneers’ first contest in which they allowed an opponent to score in double figures since a 15-13 loss to highly-ranked Johns Hopkins University back on April 1st.
Leggio finished the game with five goals and three assists, once again proving why she is the reigning MPSF player of the year. Helping out in the Pioneer scoring, freshman Ali Flury chipped in four goals and sophomore Karen Morton registered a hat trick.
In the midst of yet another outstanding season, Leggio has moved steadily up the Pioneer career-scoring lists. She has now moved into third place all-time with 126 goals and first place with 76 career assists, combining to make her the school’s second overall point-getter with 202.
Saturday marked the Pioneers’ last regular season contest and last home game of the season. Before the game, DU honored its six seniors, who played at Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium for the final time. Joining Leggio on the field for the ceremony, were Kate Broderick, Liz Dierdorff, Sarajane Goodfellow, Jessica Lodders and Alyssa Passiva.
With the victory Saturday, the Pioneers secured their No. 1 seed for the MPSF tournament that will take place this weekend in Davis, Calif. DU has a first round bye in the tournament and will await the winner of a quarterfinal game between Cal and the University of California-Davis.
The Pioneers’ semifinal game is scheduled for Saturday May 5 at 2 p.m. MT.
