The No. 17 Pioneer women’s lacrosse team was defeated 9-8 by No. 20 Stanford in the championship game at the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Conference (MPSF) on Saturday in California.

This was the third consecutive year that the Pioneers have entered the tournament as the top-seed and lost to Stanford in the championship game. This was also the second straight year that the Cardinals won by a mere goal.

“We took a ton of shots,” said junior Steph Coyne on the loss. “We out shot them for sure, we just weren’t scoring. I think it was unfortunate because we had a lot of opportunities to score and it was just falling. That was our biggest difference I think, other than that, we were totally in the game.”

Denver defeated third-seeded Stanford 13-9 earlier this season, however the Pioneers were unable to carry that momentum into the finals.

“It’s pretty disappointing,” Coyne said. “It’s the second year in a row that we’ve lost to them by one, and this is the third year we’ve lost the championship to them. I mean I think we have a fairly young team, but I really think we could have done it. We are really upset about it.”

The MPSF did not award the champion, Stanford, an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament, however Denver will not advance to NCAA play either.

Sophomore Lexi Sanders, junior Karen Morton and senior Kelly O’Connell were also named to the All-MPSF tournament team.

On Thursday, the Pioneers defeated Oregon 18-12 in the semifinals as junior Megan Carver scored just 15 seconds into the game. The Ducks responded just over two minutes later to even the score.

Denver gained momentum with five-straight goals, with two by sophomore Ali Flury, as well as Sanders, junior Dani Espinosa and Coyne.

As the first half came to a close, Oregon scored their third goal, but the Pioneers continued to strike back with a series of goals by Carver, Flury and Morton. The Ducks netted another two goals, but Denver held an 11-5 lead going into the second half.

Denver opened the scoring again early in the second half as Flury, Carver and Morton each scored in the first six minutes. The teams exchanged goals throughout the middle of the second half, as Coyne and Morton continued scoring for the Pioneers, but the Ducks were able to cut the lead down to four as the period neared its end.

Coyne scored just 13 seconds later, and Morton went on to add a free position goal with only 11 seconds of remaining play, leading Denver to a win.

On Saturday, Carver once again opened the play early in the game, but the Cardinals were quick to respond.

Sanders put the Pioneers back in the lead, but Stanford was able to score four consecutive goals giving them a 5-2 lead going into halftime.

As the second half started, the Cardinals netted another two goals, but Sanders cut Stanford’s lead to three after scoring two goals.

Eighteen minutes into the second half, the Cardinals grasped an 8-4 lead, but Denver began a comeback as Coyne scored on a pass from freshman Tulley Stapp.

Stanford’s Julie Christy scored her third goal of the game, however Denver wasn’t going to be defeated that easily. Morton, Stapp and Flury went on to cut the Cardinal lead down to one with only 1:32 of remaining play.

In the remaining nine seconds, Denver had its final chance to tie the game with a free position shot by Morton. However the goal was one of the 17 Stanford’s goalkeeper, Laura Shane, stopped.

“We were down by a significant amount and we came back,” said Coyne on the disappointing loss.

“That shows a lot for our team because it’s really hard to dig yourself out of that hole, and I think we did. The difficulty was just scoring, everything else was there, heart, confidence, everything…”