BERKELEY, Calif. Junior Steph Coyne (Baltimore, Md.) had four goals and three assists, and junior Megan Carver (Baltimore, Md.) had a hat trick and four assists, as the No. 17 University of Denver women’s lacrosse team beat Oregon 18-12 in the semifinals of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Tournament on Thursday.

 

The victory sends the top-seeded Pioneers (13-5) to the MPSF Tournament Finals for the third-straight season, but DU is still looking for its first MPSF Tournament title.

 

Denver struck early, when Carver picked up a turnover just after the opening draw and scored 15 seconds into the contest, but the Ducks answered quickly when Jen May scored on a free position shot just over two minutes later.

 

The Pioneers broke the game open with five-straight scores with a pair by sophomore Ali Flury (Arnold, Md.), and one each from sophomore Lexi Sanders (Greenwood Village, Colo.), junior Dani Espinosa (Colorado Springs, Colo.) and Coyne.

 

After Oregon’s Jenny Browne scored, Coyne and Sanders both got their second goal of the day.

 

Ilsa van den Berg gave the Ducks a third goal at the 19:14 mark, but Denver again rattled off a string of goals, this time from Carver, junior Karen Morton (Adelaide, Australia) and Flury.

 

Brown added two goals for the Ducks to finish the half, but Denver held an 11-5 advantage at the break.

 

Denver struck again early in the second half as Flury, Carver and Morton each scored in the first 6:10.

 

However, the Ducks mounted a comeback, as Browne and van den Berg both scored a pair of goals to cut Denver’s lead to 14-9 with less than 15 minutes to play.

 

The teams traded goals over the next eight minutes, Coyne and Morton scoring for the Pioneers, before Oregon’s Jana Bradley cut the Ducks’ deficit to only four with 3:33 to play.

 

Coyne answered with a goal just 13 seconds later, and Morton added a free position goal with 11 seconds left in the game, as the Pioneers held on to win.

 

In the game, Browne led the Ducks with five goals, while van den Berg had a hat trick to go along with an assist.

 

The Pioneers will face the winner of the semifinal game between No. 2 seed Cal and No. 3 seed Stanford in the MPSF Tournament Finals on Saturday at 2 p.m. MT.