March 11, 2003

Box Score

DENVER - - The University of Denver women's lacrosse team (4-3) squeaked above .500 for the first time this season with its 11-8 win over the Bucknell Bisons (1-2) today at Pioneer Field. Junior Patience Baldwin (Baltimore, Md.), the nations leading scorer (4.14 points per game), added three goals and an assist to pace the Pioneers to their third win in four games.

Seniors Sarah Medwell (Seattle, Wash.) (3g), Mari Spry (Nashua, N.H.) (2g, 1a) and freshman Steph Greenlees (Lake Forest, Ill.) (1g, 2a) also worked over the Bison defense to contribute three points each. Denver had an edge in shots (33-24) and groundballs (14-8) but the defining stat was the team's 14 face-off wins off of 20 attempts (.700). Sophomore Courtnay Gerl (Palm Beach, Fla.) excelled in this area, winning 12 of her 16 draws (.750).

Spry immediately put Bucknell in the hole after winning the draw control off the opening face-off and weaving through the opposing defense for a goal 13 seconds into the match. The Bisons tied the game two minutes later but Denver's Medwell took control of the game as she scored the first and third goal in a 5-1 run which put the Pioneers up 6-2. Bucknell fought for momentum by finding the back of the net twice before Baldwin closed out the scoring in the half with a tally at 3:34, leaving the score at 7-4.

The win seemed in question as the second half began though, with the road team scoring the first two goals to pull within one with just over 19 minutes to play. However, Baldwin and Medwell would again respond for the Pioneers, as they each recorded hat trick tallies in a four-goal run to put the squad up 11-6. The Bisons gathered the herd to attempt a final comeback and did manage two goals, but the Denver-D held to cut down any chance for a comeback.

Denver will next see action tomorrow when the team takes on Wagner within the comfy confines of Pioneer Field at 7 p.m.

Final Score:Bucknell-   8Denver-  11