The Denver women’s lacrosse team traveled to Northern California this past weekend to play No. 9 Stanford. Denver dominated on the field and upset the Cardinal, 14-9.
Senior attacker Lauren Black kicked the game off with a free-position goal to quickly put Denver on the scoreboard. However, Stanford wasted no time and scored from a feed to make it a tie game.
Sophomore midfielder Kyra Obert then scored for the seventh time this season to put Denver one point ahead with 10:14 left in the first quarter. Stanford went on a hot streak, scoring three goals in a row. Sophomore midfielder Olivia Ripple then tied the game, scoring twice in the last few minutes to make it 4-4 to end the first quarter.
Stanford started the second quarter promptly with two goals to put them up, 6-4. Denver answered this with a goal by freshman attacker Caroline Keil assisted by freshman attacker Eva Thomsen-Marr to tighten up the game. Black then scored again to tie the game with 6:08 remaining in the second quarter.
Like clockwork, Thomsen-Marr found Keil to put the Crimson and Gold ahead of Stanford once again. Senior defender Sarah Pokorny fought for two critical ground balls to end the first half, 7-6.
Freshman draw specialist Alex Dorr started the second half off with a draw control to give Denver possession. Moving the ball into the offensive zone, senior attacker Mollie Estepp scored with an assist from junior midfielder Lindset Wilmot.
The Cardinal scored from a free-position shot to make the score 8-7 with 7:37 left in the third quarter. Denver and Stanford went goal-for-goal at the end of the third quarter, with goals by Black and Ripple, and finished the quarter winning, 10-8.
Thomsen-Marr started the last period of the game with a man-down goal to increase the Denver lead by three points. Thomsen-Marr’s stick was hot as she scored her twenty-third goal of the season, putting Denver up, 12-8. With goals from Black and Ripple, Denver increased the score to 14-8.
Stanford tried to close the gap with a goal at the end of the fourth quarter to close the game, 14-9.
Denver will make the short drive to play state rival, the University of Colorado, on Thursday amidst the Flatirons in Boulder. On Saturday, they will face Butler University, a Big East matchup, on home turf in the Peter Barton Stadium at 11:00 a.m.
