On Friday, the No. 7 DU women’s lacrosse team defeated the previously unbeaten Stanford in the first round of the NCAA Championships. With this 15-13 win, the team advanced to the second round of the playoffs against No. 2 Northwestern where Denver fell short to finish out their 2021 season.
The first half of Sunday’s game was a back-and-forth competition, with each DU goal being immediately followed by a Cardinal response for the first 17 minutes of the game. Denver opened the scoring with a goal from graduate student and attack Kailey Conry (Needham, Mass.), which was quickly mirrored by Stanford’s first. Senior attack Bea Behrins (Basking Ridge, N.J.), sophomore attack Julia Gilbert (Mclean, Va.) and senior midfielder Caroline Wiseman (Alexandria, Va.) also contributed to Denver’s first-half battle with a goal each during the first 17 minutes.
However, Denver pushed on and with 9:18 remaining, they kicked off a 4-1 run to end the half. Notably, Behrins scored her third goal of the half with just 0.3 seconds to go, completing her hat trick and pushing the Crimson and Gold to a three-point advantage.
After DU’s strong end to the first half, the Cardinal came out ready to fight and knocked down Denver’s lead to two early. But senior attacker Eliza Radochonski (Englewood, Colo.) answered quickly and scored her third goal of the game with 27:44 remaining.
Stanford then tied the game back up with three goals in less than three minutes. With back-and-forth competition, both teams scored to keep the game tied at 10-10 with 19:34 to go.
Almost six minutes later, Denver finally pulled ahead. Behrins scored her fifth goal of the night, and graduate student defenseman Molly Little (Tiverton, R.I.) followed Behrins with her own goal just 12 seconds later.
However, in the span of 31 seconds, Stanford tied up the game once again to make it 12-12 with 9:23 to go. Radonchonski then answered the Cardinal with her fourth and fifth goals of the game to put Denver at a 2-point lead. Although Stanford put one more in the net, Radonchonski scored her final two and senior midfielder Mackenzie Wallevand (Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif.) knocked in her first and last goal of the game. This pulled Denver out the 15-13 win.
Notably, senior attack Hannah Liddy (Westfield, N.J.) tied Denver’s single-game NCAA Tournament assist record with four each. Friday’s game moved Liddy into third in program history for career assists with 110 and fourth in single-season assists with 46.
Behrins and Radonchonski also tied Denver’s single-game NCAA Tournament scoring record with five apiece.
Friday’s victory improved the team’s overall first-round record to 5-0. However, DU fell short to No. 2 Northwestern on Sunday to finish out their 2021 campaign. With a 19-4 loss in the second round of the NCAA playoffs, Denver broke their 16-game winning streak—the second-longest in program history—and now looks to a fresh start next season.
