The historic season continues for the University of Denver women’s lacrosse squad after they defeated the University of Southern California in their first-round matchup Friday afternoon and the University at Albany in their second-round matchup Sunday afternoon. The team’s stellar defense all weekend lifted them to a 10-7 victory against the Trojans and an 8-6 victory against the Great Danes.
DU is the only remaining undefeated team after Sunday’s contest and extended their program-record winning streak to 21 games. The most games the program has ever won in a season was back in 2014 when they defeated 19 opponents that season.
The action started Friday afternoon at Peter Barton Stadium, where the Crimson and Gold hosted their first-ever regional game in program history. DU came into the contest ranked fifth in the tournament while the Trojans were unranked.
It was all DU in the first frame of the contest. Senior midfielder Ellie Curry (Lutherville, Md.) took a feed from sophomore attack Lauren Black (New Westminster, B.C) in the slot and found the back of the net four minutes into the first quarter.
Denver scored the next five goals to take an early 6-0 lead in the beginning minutes of the second quarter. Black scored three of those, which was good for her sixth hat trick of the season. Sophomore midfielder Caroline Colimore (Hunt Valley, Md.) scored her 12th goal of the season during the big run for Denver.
Sophomore goalkeeper Emelia Bohi (Bethesda, Md.) made some tremendous saves in the first half including a prime chance in the slot at the three-minute mark in the second quarter that Bohi saved low. Bohi had five saves against the Trojan attack.
USC scored a minute later after Colimore’s goal and was the last goal scored in the second quarter. The Crimson and Gold went into halftime with a five-goal lead over the Trojans.
The Trojans used halftime to their advantage and stormed their way back into the contest. They capitalized on their free position opportunities alongside their man-up advantages to score five unanswered goals and give themselves all of the momentum heading into the final quarter.
With the season on the line, senior attack and captain Julia Gilbert (Mclean, Va.) stepped up in the fourth quarter and delivered in a big way. She scored a free position goal two minutes into the fourth quarter to stop the Trojan momentum and give DU the slim lead.
Two minutes later, senior defender Sam Thacker (Lutherville, Md.) forced a turnover which caused Curry to pick up the ground ball and feed graduate defender Trinity McPherson (Baltimore, Md.) to charge down the field and feed a wide-open Gilbert for her second goal of the quarter.
USC scored a little more than a minute later to bring them within one but freshman Ryan Dineen (Huntingtown, Md.) and Gilbert sealed the deal for Denver. Gilbert forced two turnovers before firing into an empty net to cap off her fourth-quarter hat trick.
After advancing to the second round matchup, Denver matched up with the American East Champions Albany Great Danes. Albany surprisingly upset Virginia in their first-round matchup and proved to be a tough opponent for DU Sunday afternoon.
Gilbert got the scoring started six minutes into the game after she cradled her way past two Great Dane defenders and fired high into the back of the net.
Dineen found her way past the Albany defense and fed sophomore attack Molli Estepp (Worthington, Ohio) who was creeping on the side of the crease and gave DU an early two-goal lead.
Gilbert would score two minutes later to raise the lead to three after being left all alone with the Albany goaltender on a fastbreak.
In the draw control sector of the contest, junior draw specialist Abby Jenkins (Richmond, Va.) got some help from McPherson and Thacker who picked up four draw controls in the contest each.
Albany scored the next three goals to end the first quarter. All three came from Sarah Falk who finished with four of Albany’s six goals.
Black got her name on the scoresheet to open up the second quarter with a free position shot. The next nine minutes would be scoreless before Albany found the back of the net and equalized the contest. Heading into halftime, both teams were deadlocked at four.
Albany took their first lead of the game off of a goal from Grace McCauley. Gilbert scored the equalizer six minutes later after she finished a free position shot low into the goal.
GIlbert’s goal proved to be a turning point for DU as all the momentum shifted in their favor. Black followed not long after Gilbert’s goal with her own free position goal to lift DU to a one-goal lead.
With just seconds left in the third quarter, junior attack Sloane Kipp (Dallas, Texas) forced a turnover, scooped up the ground ball, marched down into firing position and fired a bullet from far out into the top part of the goal as the buzzer sounded to end the third quarter. Kipp’s highlight reel goal was the ultimate game-winner for the Crimson and Gold.
Graduate attack Kayla DeRose (Gaithersburg, Md.) scored a free-position goal two minutes into the fourth quarter to give Denver a comfortable three-goal lead. The final score of the contest was 8-6.
Denver will look to keep their historic season going against the no.4 ranked North Carolina Tar Heels. In the four contests Denver has played North Carolina in program history, they have never been able to defeat them and they will travel to Chapel Hill this week and try to make history. The game will be nationally broadcasted on ESPNU on Thursday at 3 p.m.
