May 6, 2005

Final Stats

MORAGA, Calif. - Sophomore Kate Broderick's (Chantilly, Va.) four points were not enough as the California Golden Bears defeated the University of Denver women's lacrosse team 12-9 in the semifinals of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Championship at Saint Mary's Stadium on Friday, May 6. The Pioneers' loss ends a three-game winning streak and drops them to 7-12 overall. California improves to 12-6.

Denver also lost to California in last year's semifinal.

The tight match reflected the regular-season meeting, won by Cal, 7-6, on March 5 in Denver.

The difference in the second half, when Cal outscored Denver, 7-4, was draw controls. While Denver had an 8-3 lead in the first half, Cal had a 9-3 edge in the second half.

Cal raced out to a 4-0 lead within the first 12 minutes on goals by Danni Zuralow, Mary Downs and Molly Brady, who scored twice in that span.

Denver then went on a 4-1 run, with goals by and junior Tanya Fuchs (Bay Shore, N.Y), senior Tara Bourdelaise (Grambrills, Md.), senior Crystal Jack (Kingwood, Texas) and Broderick. Cal took a timeout after the Pioneers cut the Bears' lead to one at 5-4. But Denver retained its momentum, tying the game at 5-5 at 28:01 on a goal by Broderick.

Cal quickly retook the lead, scoring the first four goals of the second stanza. Leanne Zilioli gave Cal a 6-5 lead by converting a free-position shot just 1:48 into the second half. Schuyler Sokolow scored at 34:10 to give the Bears a 7-5 lead. Zuralow scored her second of the game at 34:32 and Brady completed her hat trick at 35:55 to give Cal a 9-5 lead.

Jack snapped Cal's run with an unassisted goal 29 seconds later, to make the score 9-6. Denver closed to 9-7 when junior Steph Greenlees (Lake Forest, Ill.), Denver's leading scorer entering the game, scored an unassisted goal at 44:20.

Zuralow and Zilioli scored the next two goals to give Cal an 11-7 lead that closed to 11-9 after goals by Broderick and Fuchs. But Zilioli ended thoughts of a Denver comeback with an unassisted goal with 11 seconds remaining to end the scoring.

Broderick had a game-high three goals. Jack and Fuchs each recorded two scores with Greenlees and Bourdelaise each registering one. Jack also had a game-best two assists.

Zilioli, who also had one assist, led Cal with four points.

Senior goalkeeper Steph Schneider (Leesburg, Va.) posted 11 saves in the Pioneer cage. Hillary Linch took home the win in net for the Golden Bears as she collected 19 saves. Denver had an advantage in shots (38-32) and groundballs (27-18).

Jack had a game-high nine shots. Fuchs and freshman Kelly O'Connell (Baltimore, Md.) tallied a game-best four groundballs.

The Pioneers return to action on Saturday, May 7 when they play the fourth-seeded UC Davis Aggies in the consolation game of the MPSF Championship at noon MT. UC Davis defeated Denver 9-11 in last year's consolation game. The Pioneers however, took home a 12-9 decision earlier this season.