The Denver women’s lacrosse team won the first game of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation tournament held over the weekend in Eugene, Ore. on Thursday before losing in the championship game on Saturday.
Although the Pioneers missed the automatic qualifier that comes with a MPSF championship, the women were still chosen for an at-large berth in the NCAA tournament.
In Denver’s first game of the MPSF Conference Tournament against the University of Southern California on Thursday, the Pioneers tromped the Trojans by a final score of 17-11.
The Pioneers, who earned the top seed in the tournament, jumped out to an early lead in the game—one they would not relinquish.
After a 3-0 jump start, USC battled back, tightening the game to 4-3.
Denver led 8-5 at halftime, but again the Trojans came back to close the gap to 9-7. In the end, the Pioneers finished strong with a 7-1 scoring run to finish the game.
“USC is a great team, and we were really happy to earn the win,” said 2013 MPSF Coach of the Year Liza Kelly. “I am really proud of this team for handling everything thrown at them today.”
With the victory, the Pioneers stretched their win streak to 15 games.
Senior midfielder Mikayla Clark recorded a career-high five points off of a hat trick and two assists, while sophomore attack Jill Remenapp, who leads the nation in assists, recorded three helpers along with a goal. Junior attack Jenn Etzel scored three goals and an assist for the Pioneers.
Redshirt sophomore goalkeeper Hannah Hook saved 13 in her third straight game with at least 13 saves.
On Saturday, the team took on the No. 3-seeded Stanford University. In a hard-fought and heartbreaking loss, the Pioneers snapped their 15-game winning streak, falling to Stanford 7-6.
The Cardinals scored the first three goals of the game, but Denver came back to tie the game 3-3 at the half.
The Pioneers led for the first time less than a minute into the second half, 4-3, but Stanford scored the next three goals, taking a lead that DU would not be able to reclaim.
Remenapp scored a goal with 2:44 left in the game to bring the team to within one, but the team would not score again.
Stanford won their eighth championship in the 10 years of the MPSF tournament while earning the league’s automatic qualifier for the NCAA tournament.
“Stanford played a really great game,” said Kelly. “I am really proud of our defensive performance, and I think we had some great plays on attack. Hopefully our body of work gets us an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament.”
Lead scorers included Remenapp with two goals and an assist as well as redshirt senior Kara Secora with two goals. Hook also made eight saves for the Pioneers.
On Sunday night, the Pioneers were selected to receive an at-large berth for the NCAA tournament. They will play in the first round in Gainesville, Florida, on Friday at 2 p.m. MT.
“We are so excited. I’ve never been more proud of our team,” said senior captain Kate Henrich. “We, as a program, are making history and can’t wait to take on Jacksonville.”
The Pioneers will be facing the Jacksonville Dolphins, who won the inaugural Atlantic Sun Tournament championship to earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
