The No. 18 Pioneer women’s lacrosse team could not overcome No. 15 Stanford, losing 11-10 in double overtime in the championship game of the 2010 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Championship tournament last Sunday.
Denver (13-5) hosted the conference tournament at Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium and advanced to the tournament’s championship game after DU beat UC Davis 14-9 last Thursday in the semi-finals.
In the Stanford game, the second overtime, a sudden death period, proved too much for DU. Stanford controlled the ball for the entire three minutes of play, but Denver got the ball with 10 seconds left.
However, the team was called for an offensive, game changing foul, which enabled the Cardinal to take possession and score the winning goal with five seconds left leaving the Pioneers with a heartbreaking loss.
“They had the ball at the end of the game,” said head coach Liza Kelly of why her team fell short. “It was probably a great game to watch, and a fun game to play in.”
“That’s why you play sports,” Kelly added with tears in her eyes. “You have winners and losers, and you just hate to be on the bad end of it.”
The Pioneers were led by senior captains Ali Flury and Lexi Sanders the entire game and have been the whole season. Flury, the career goal leader in DU history with 202, posted three goals and an assist, while Sanders had two goals and three assists to lead the Pioneers in scoring.
Stanford (14-5) has now won six straight MPSF title.
“We know that we can be in the top 20 and should be in the top 20,” said Kara Secora. “We proved today that we can play against Stanford.”
With the loss it is unlikely that the Pioneers will get an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament, which means the double-overtime loss will mark the last game in two stellar carriers for seniors Flury and Sanders.
“It was great. I couldn’t have asked for better coaches and better teammates,” said Flury. “I have loved all four years I have been here.”
Flury finished with 236 career points, which ranks her third all-time in program history. What’s even more impressive is that the senior scored a point in every single game she played in at DU, finishing with a streak of 69 consecutive games with a point.
Sanders, the conference leader in assists, doesn’t leave DU with her name atop the program’s record books, but does leave following a terrific senior year.
“I think it was a really good four years and this is the best year that we have ever had so it was great that we ended on such a high note even though we didn’t finish it off,” said Sanders.
Flury, Sanders and goaltender Ashley Harman made the All-Tournament team.
“Our goalie, Ashley Harman, had a phenomenal two games,” said Kelly. “I thought Ali and Lexi stepped up as seniors, we had strong performances from Megan Zeman, Natasha Davies and Kara Secora.”
In her freshman season, Secora showed that she could one day be leaving the team the same way Flury and Sanders are, as role models on and off the field.
“The seniors meant everything,” said Secora. “This year was all about the seniors, and we played every single game for them and tried our hardest for them. The future is bright, every year we are just going to get better.”
The future does looks bright for DU, the team will lose only five seniors, but the presence of those players will be missed.
“I can’t wait to see how this team grows,” said Sanders of the future of the program. “It is a young team and I can’t wait to see how they grow. They are going to be great. They are going to take this loss and remember it.”
Flury added, “Hopefully these girls represent the school and keep pushing.”
As the sun sets on the career of two great players, the youth that remains from this season’s team, now has the added experience to make another great run in the MPSF.
