The No. 2-seeded DU women’s lacrosse team lost 7-4 to No. 3-seeded Oregon in the semifinals of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation postseason tournament this past Friday in Moraga, Calif.

The week before the Pioneers (7-11, 5-2 MPSF) defeated the Ducks 14-9 at Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium to earn the No. 2 seed in the postseason bracket.

However, the regular season victory proved to be meaningless as the women’s team finished a game shy of where they were last season, when they lost to Stanford in double overtime of the championship game.

In this year’s semifinal game, the Ducks gained a two-goal lead early into the game before the Pioneers responded with three straight goals, making the contest 3-2 with nine minutes remaining in the first half.

Oregon scored the next five goals and never looked back, holding the Pioneers to a sole goal the rest of the game.

Junior attacks Lauren Ciccomascolo and Becca Steinberg, sophomore attack Alex Befus and freshman midfielder Annabelle Gilbride scored in the contest, but the Pioneer offense failed to produce as it had in previous week, shooting 4-for-17.

Junior goaltender Ashley Harman had eight saves in the disappointing loss.

The loss ends DU’s season as they will not qualify for the NCAA tournament, finishing with a record below .500; however, DU surged in the final three weeks of the season to claim the No. 2 seed for the MPSF Tournament.

The Pioneers have some promise heading into next season as they return their top four scorers in redshirt sophomore Kara Secora, Befus, Ciccomascolo and freshman Jenn Etzel.

However, the Pioneers will lose senior leadership in midfielder Tulley Stapp who has been the leader of the team throughout the season.

Stapp started all 18 games last season as a junior, including the MPSF Championship game in which the Pioneers lost to the Cardinal, and all 18 games this season.