Macleay Scores In Overtime As Buffs Upset No. 9 Northwestern

Sunday, February 12

Boulder, Colo.

12:00 PM

Colorado

1-0

Northwestern

2-1

Northwestern

Colorado

The Buffs celebrate their first win against No. 9 Northwestern

Macleay Scores In Overtime As Buffs Upset No. 9 Northwestern

February 12, 2017 | Lacrosse

Box Score Lacrosse Box Score

By: Linda Sprouse, Associate SID

BOULDER — Opening up the season with a win is always nice, but starting with a stunning upset overtime win against a ranked opponent is even better.

The Colorado women's lacrosse team did just that, defeating the ninth-rated Northwestern Wildcats 11-10 on Sunday afternoon at Kittredge Field. The win is the first ever against a ranked team in program's four-year history.

WHAT HAPPENED: Senior Katie Macleay scored the game-winning goal 55 seconds into the overtime period, securing the Buffs first-ever win against the Wildcats. It was her second goal of the game which came off a pass from senior Johnna Fusco's second assist of the day.

It was an all-around team victory for the Buffs with seven players recording goals, as well as great goalkeeping by senior Paige Soenksen, who tied a career-high with 19 saves.

The scoring started early in the contest. NU recorded the first goal with 25:47 remaining in the first half; but Colorado responded with three straight goals from sophomore Miranda Stinson, junior Carly Cox and Fusco to take an early 3-1 lead, which would also be the largest lead of the game for either team.

The Wildcats answered with two goals of their own to even the score at 3-3 and retook the lead off Ellie Yenor's second goal of the season (4-3) with 6:19 left on the clock in the first half. Junior Darby Kiernan and Stinson connected with the back of the net to put the Buffs back on top, but NU would add two more goals to its score before halftime, giving the Wildcats a 6-5 edge at the intermission.

Colorado came out of the break strong. With 23:56 left in the second half, senior defender Kelsie Garrison connected with the back of the net on a free position shot for her second career goal, drawing the game even at 6-6. Just over two minutes later (21:45), Kiernan scored her second goal of the game off an assist by Fusco, giving CU a 7-6 advantage.

Just as they had done all game, NU answered, adding two goals to its score to take an 8-7 lead. Macleay tallied her first goal of the season 90 seconds later and 20 seconds after that, Stinson notched her third goal of the day.

The two sides would go back-and-forth following those goals. NU's Selena Lasota scored with 10:18 left on the clock and 15 seconds later junior Sarah Brown found the back of the next for the first time this season (10-9). Christina Esposito tied the game up for the last time with 70 seconds left in the game, forcing the two sides to play their first overtime game of the season where the Buffs would win on a goal by Macleay.

TURNING POINT: Colorado scored back-to-back goals within 20 seconds of each other to take a 9-8 lead late in the second half. Macleay scored her first goal of the season at 11:29 with an assist from Garrison and Stinson earned her second career hat-trick with her third goal of the game 20 seconds later (11:09). The Buffs would never trail at that point despite two more ties.

KEY STATISTIC: The game saw nine lead changes and nine ties before the Buffs were able to take home the 11-10 victory. Stinson led the Buffs with four points. Senior Marie Moore led the Buffs with two caused turnovers and picked up three ground balls, which tied for the team lead with Garrison.

TEAM LEADERS:

Colorado
Points: 15
Goals: 11
Assists: 4
Draw Controls: 10
Ground Balls: 14
Saves: 19

Northwestern
Points: 13
Goals: 10
Assists: 3
Draw Controls: 13
Ground Balls: 16
Saves: 5

NOTABLE:

Senior Paige Soenkseon tied her career high with 19 saves against NU. She also stopped 19 shots against Stanford on April 6, 2014.
The 11 goals are the most the Buffs have scored in a game against NU. They put up eight in the first meeting, falling 14-8 in 2015. When the two teams met last season, NU took the game 11-6.
CU was 0-13 against ranked teams heading into the game, which includes a 0-2 record against Northwestern. The Buffs are now 1-13 versus ranked teams and are 1-2 against the Wildcats.
The Buffs are now 3-1 in home openers, as well as 3-1 in season openers.

QUOTEABLE:
Head Coach Ann Elliott
It's the first game of the season and they are a great team overall that has played great this year. They have proven themselves over and over. It has nothing to do with me and has nothing to do with Kelly or Colorado-Northwestern. It just has to do with our team coming out here and competing and being able to finally pull out a win against a really good team.

We knew coming into this game it was going to take everyone and it was going to take every play we could make. They are such a good team and have so many weapons. Defensively we knew we had to play our game and contain them. Offensively we needed everything and we needed everyone. One thing we have this year is a little more experience; our kids have a little more confidence and that allows us to attack from a lot of different ways.

Our greatest strength is our experience. Being able to have a lot of kids who played four years or three years and have been in these situations was great. It helps and has paid off down the road and we are fortunate we could pull this one out.

Paige was amazing. She is so steady back there. I thought our defense did a good job getting their sticks on things and containing people but especially in the beginning of the first half, Paige was the reason we were in the game. She has always been consistent from day one so we are very happy she had a great game today.

We have a tough schedule [ahead]. Our next game is huge against UMass. These girls will rest up and enjoy this one for right now. My staff will get to work starting now to face another great opponent in UMass.

Katie Macleay, Sr., Attacker
The [game-winning] goal felt awesome. It was just such a great effort by everybody on the field. I mean our defense played awesome; Paige played awesome. Everybody did great and I am so glad we came out here and won that game.

I think this will set a high standard for where we will be this season and how we will come out to play next weekend. I think we can make it really far and as long as we put in the effort we put in today, we can make it very far.

Miranda Stinson, So., Midfielder
I think I really just came out there and executed my role. I think me coming out there and having confidence gave everyone confidence too to take the ball to the goal.

We cannot win games without everyone contributing it was a team effort and everyone had to do their job for us to get this win.

UP NEXT: The Buffs travel to DeLand, Fla., for a pair of contests. On Feb. 17, CU will face No. 15/16 UMass at 11 a.m. The second game of the weekend will be on Feb. 19 when CU takes on Stetson at 10 a.m.