BERKELEY, Calif. Junior Karen Morton (Adelaide, Australia) scored six goals and junior Steph Coyne (Baltimore, Md.) dished out five assists, as the No. 19 University of Denver women’s lacrosse team beat California 12-8.

 

The victory clinches DU’s third-straight Mountain Pacific Sports Federation regular season title and the No. 1 seed in the MPSF Tournament, which begins Wednesday in Berkeley, although Denver (11-5, 4-0 MPSF) and Cal (9-7, 4-1 MPSF), which clinched the No. 2 seed, both receive a first round bye.

 

Coyne’s five assists tied the fourth-highest single-game total in Pioneers’ history. Coyne holds four of the marks on that list, while former DU great Kristie Leggio has the other three.

 

“Our top players really stepped up, and we played the suffocating defense that allowed us to capitalize on their mistakes and force a lot of turnovers,” head coach Liza Kelly said. “We’ve got one more game tomorrow, and then we can come back out here to focus on winning our first MPSF Tournament championship.”

 

The NCAA leader in caused turnovers, Denver forced 11 turnovers in the game, including two each by Coyne, sophomore Ali Flury (Arnold, Md.) and reigning MPSF Player of the Week senior Kelly O'Connell (Baltimore, Md.)

 

Cal jumped out to a quick lead when Danni Zuralow scored just 45 seconds into the game.

 

However, Denver stormed back with seven-consecutive goals over a 10-minute span, including four by Morton. The Bears got two goals back before heading to the lockerroom, but DU held a 7-3 lead at the half.

 

The Pioneers put the game away by scoring four of the game’s next five goals in the first 21 minutes of the second half. Cal outscored DU 4-1 in the final eight minutes, but it was not enough to overcome Denver’s sizeable lead.

 

Senior goalkeeper Becky Childs (Phoenix, Md.) played the entire game, earning the win with five saves.

 

Denver is 14-1 during the regular season against MPSF teams and has not lost an MPSF regular season game since falling 11-9 to Stanford on April 15, 2006.

 

DU concludes the regular season at St. Mary’s tomorrow at 1 p.m. After their first round bye, the Pioneers will begin the MPSF Tournament in Berkeley on Wednesday at 2 p.m. with their opponent to be determined.