Women's lacrosse: CU Buffs continue road dominance with rout at Cal

The Colorado women’s lacrosse team hasn’t won at home since the season’s opening game.

It’s a small sample size, as the Buffaloes have enjoyed just two other home matches since, but in the meantime CU is making quite a living on the road.

The 20th-ranked Buffs picked up their fifth road victory of the season on Saturday, winning 15-7 in the final Pac-12 Conference trip to California. CU improved to 6-3 overall and 1-1 in the conference.

It was the Buffs’ 13th consecutive win against the Golden Bears. CU also ended Cal’s three-game win streak.

“I’m proud of a lot of what we did today,” CU head coach Ann Elliott Whidden said in a news release. “We needed to come out and prove to ourselves we could be more consistent and in control. Defensively we started slow but then were able to lock in and make some plays. Offensively we were more efficient than we were last week and that was a huge positive for us.”

Cal scored the first two goals of the game but the Buffs dominated from there, scoring the next 10 in a row to take an eight-goal lead midway through the second quarter. Golden Bears starting goalie Callan Fritsch was pulled after surrendering the first eight of those goals without recording a save.

CU led 11-3 at halftime and outscored the Bears 4-1 in the third quarter to lock up the victory.

Madeline Pisani again led the Buffs’ attack, finishing with three goals, while Sydney Zimmerman also tallied three goals. Eve Hritzuk, Rachel Kennedy and Ashley Stokes added two goals apiece, while Stokes also recorded three assists. CU goalie Danielle Heintz saved six of 10 shots before giving way to backup Caity Brower late in the fourth quarter.

CU outshot Cal 24-18 overall with an 18-14 edge in shots on goal.

The Buffs return home to host San Diego State in a Pac-12 matchup next Saturday (March 30) at Kittredge Field (noon, Pac-12 Mountain).

Colorado            4            7            4            0 — 15

California           2            1            1            3 — 7

Goals — Colorado: Pisani 3, Zimmerman 3, Hritzuk 2, Kennedy 2, Stokes 2, Assini, Gardner, Reed. California — Fischer 2, Wang 2, Goss, Mason, Rothman.

Assists — Colorado: Stokes 3, Dodd, Gardner, Reed, Shoup. California — Lilquist, Wong.

Goalies (Min.-goals allowed-saves) — Colorado: Heintz (54-4-6); Brower (6-3-1). California — Rand (27-2-2); Fritsch (20-8-0); Souliotis (13-5-1).