Ryan leads the way as Colorado defeats Cornell at home
- Peighton Lemp
- 24 hours ago
- 2 min read
Colorado (2-0) women’s lacrosse secured a win at their first home game on Sunday against Cornell University (0-1), 8-5. This was the first-ever meeting between these two teams, and Colorado was able to walk away 1-0 against Cornell.
Coming off a ranked win against No. 2 Northwestern, the Buffs were looking to extend their record to 2-0 and were able to do just that.
“Yeah, I think huge for us to find a way. I don’t think our best game, but we knew Cornell was going to come in here. They are tough, they are scrappy, they are athletic,” head coach Ann Elliott Whidden said.
CU was led by junior attacker Teagan Ryan and junior attacker Jaimey Hill, who had 3 and 2 goals, respectively.
“I feel like with the way I play its all dependent on my teammates. I wouldn’t be able to score out there without them. All the feeds, they keep their head up, I work off my other teammates,” Ryan said on her performance.
Colorado opened the game looking very strong and working their offense well. Taking eight shots and only giving two turnovers. CU got its first goal just 1:30 into the game with a free position goal by senior attack Maddie Shoup.
Ryan secured her first goal for the Buffs with 6:50 remaining in the first quarter with an assist from behind the net from Shoup.
On the defensive end, Colorado was making life hard for the Big Red. Holding them to just one shot attempt and forcing 6 turnovers.
The Buffs carried their momentum into the second quarter, where they extended their lead to 5-1 at the end of the half.
Cornell continued to struggle with Colorado’s dominant defense. They were only able to score one goal, but got more looks with two extra shot attempts.
Coming out of halftime, it was Cornell that got the first goal of the quarter with 10:13 remaining. The Big Red appeared more comfortable on the offensive side, but Colorado was still firing on all cylinders and continued to extend their lead to 6-2.
In the fourth quarter, the Buffs appeared to slow down on defense, allowing Cornell to score back-to-back goals within the first 5 minutes. Giving the Big Red a glimmer of hope as they cut their deficit to just two with 10 minutes remaining.
However, the experienced Colorado team was able to stay poised and scored two more goals to secure the 8-5 win.
“At the end of the day, I thought the team found a way. There were moments where we could have lost focus,” Elliott Whidden said. “We found a way to stick together, to play together, and to come up with the win. So, that was huge for us.”
Colorado looks to carry their momentum with it as they face Towson University at Kittredge Field on Feb. 21. The game starts at noon MT and can be streamed on ESPN+.