Colorado suffers its first loss to No. 18 Stony Brook
- Jake Chau
- 19 hours ago
- 3 min read
Defense stood strong as the No. 15 Colorado Buffaloes (3-1) nearly had their comeback attempt realized, but fell 9-7 to the No. 18 Stony Brook Seawolves (3-0) Thursday.
Senior attacker Maddie Shoup, junior attacker Teagan Ryan and senior midfielder Lily Assini all had two goals each, while freshman attacker Rowan Edson added a goal of her own to account for the Buffaloes' seven goals.
Colorado was outshot 25-22 (21-14 on goal), had more turnovers and fewer draw controls, but kept the game close.
Much thanks to sophomore goalkeeper Elena Oh’s 12 saves, which ties her career-high.
Oh was electric in the first frame, making five saves on six shots while the only goal she let in was by junior midfielder Keira Martin while the Seawolves were a man-up.
Shoup responded late in the first quarter to tie the game 1-1, heading into the second quarter.
Ryan took the opening possession to goal, beating Stony Brook sophomore goalkeeper Ava Yancey to put the Buffs ahead 2-1.
Colorado had three shots on the following possession, but only forced Yancey to make a save on one of them.
Stony Brook took back the lead with two quick goals to go ahead, 3-2.
Assini responded to tie the game back up, but the Seawolves took advantage of a free position shot on the next possession.
Ryan found the back of the net for a second time in the quarter after a great pass from senior midfielder Molly Reed.
Junior midfielder Isabella Caporuscio beat Oh with under a minute left to give Stony Brook a 5-4 lead going into halftime.
The Seawolves began to pour it on the Buffs, scoring three goals in the first five minutes, including Caporuscio’s third of the game, to push the lead to 8-4.
Despite both shots being on frame, Colorado could only generate two shots in the entire third quarter, being shut out while Stony Brook’s defense prevented any momentum.
After a card from Shoup, Stony Brook pushed the lead out to five, 9-4, with 14 minutes left to play.
The Buffs dug in, though, as both Assini and Edson scored on free position shots, cutting the lead to three, 9-6, with under eight minutes to play.
Shoup found nylon while the Buffs were a man-up with five minutes left in the final frame, but the offense dried out, only generating two shots after that point, none of which were within the posts.
"It wasn't our best day, unfortunately," head coach Ann Elliott Whidden said. "We talk about playing aggressively and disciplined, and we lacked some discipline at times.”
The Buffs had five more fouls or cards than Stony Brook had across the game. Even though Colorado was down as much as five, they fought back hard.
“I thought that game could have slipped away, and we could have lost by 10, but we fought back,” Elliott Whidden said. “We got some stops. We won a couple draw controls and made a couple of plays on the offensive end to give ourselves a chance down to the end.”
Colorado’s next game is Sunday against the Army West Point Black Knights (3-1) in West Point, New York. The first draw is set for noon (ESPN+).
Cover photo courtesy of CU Women's Lacrosse