The University of Denver women’s lacrosse team will have to wait to start their run for a berth to the NCAA Tournament from their new multimillion-dollar stadium that will be going up next season.

The Pioneers fell to the California Bears 17-12 in the semi-finals of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) Championship and lost 11-9 to UC Davis Aggies in the consolation game.

The Pioneers battled the Bears as sophomore Steph Greenlees ended with four goals and two assists for six points and senior Patience Baldwin had three goals and one assist for four points.

Denver took the lead early on in the game after a goal by junior Crystal Jack, but the Bears answered by netting four of the next five goals.

The Pioneers battled back to within one goal with three minutes left in the half, but California was not done as they scored four more goals in the final three minutes.

Both squads opened the half with a six-minute scoring drought that finally ended with Jack scoring her second goal of the game.

Jack notched both of her goals from free-position shots.

But after that it was all California, as they scored five unanswered goals and held off a late Pioneer surge that consisted of five goals in five minutes.

Pioneer junior goalie Steph Schneider ended the game with 15 saves while Hilary Lynch made eight for the Bears.

The Pioneers then battled the Aggies to a close finish in the consolation match.

Freshman Kate Broderick led the Pioneers with three points after scoring one goal and assisting on two others.

Baldwin gave the team a 9-8 lead off a late free-position shot, but it did not last long.

The Aggies immediately tied the game with a score by Alden Monger and then won the game after Leslie Kado nailed a free-position shot.

Katie McMahon scored again for the Aggies with three minutes left to put the Pioneers away for good.

Schneider made 15 saves for the Pioneers and UC Davis keeper Kristin Braasch had 13 saves.

The Pioneers were hurt by turnovers as they committed 10, four of which were caused by UC Davis.

The Aggies surrendered only four turnovers, three of which were caused.

Baldwin and Greenlees were named to the MPSF All-Tournament Team.

Baldwin also finished her career as Denver’s all-time leader in points with 175 and goals with 148.

She is also second all-time on the team with 27 assists.

California defeated Stanford 11-10 in what turned out to be a very exciting MPSF Championship game.