WLAX v Oregon (30 APR 15) - Highlights
  WLAX v Oregon (30 APR 15) - Full Game

BOX SCORE

DENVER -- The University of Denver women's lacrosse team kicked off postseason play with an 11-5 victory over the Oregon Ducks on Thursday afternoon at Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium. Five Pioneers each had two goals to lead the way for Denver and Maddy Stevenson (Bainbridge Island, Wash.) making her first career start in place of the injured Hannah Hook (Arnold, Md.) picked up the victory.

After a slow offensive start for both teams, MPSF rookie of the year, Nicole Martindale (Brooklin, Ontario), scored the first goal almost ten minutes into the half to give the Pioneers a 1-0 lead. Oregon scored back to back goals to take the lead but Denver's Casey White (Queensbury, N.Y.) tied the game 2-2. The Pioneers took the lead back after Kiki Boone (Cherry Hills Village, Colo.) took a pass from Monica Lucas (Kensington, Md.) and fired it through the Ducks goalie. Martindale followed with her second goal of the day to extend the Denver lead to two and the low scoring half ended with the Pioneers ahead 4-2.

The Pioneers took the momentum of the three goal run at the end the first half and carried it to the second half. Rachael McKinnon (Brooklin, Ontario) kept it going for DU as she scored on a pass from Jill Remenapp (Woodbine, Md.) shortly into the second half. Boone's second goal of the day was followed by another from White and the Pioneer offense that had been stymied early in the game was firing on all cylinders. McKinnon's second goal of the half made it a seven goal run, giving Denver a six goal lead.

By the time Oregon ended the Denver run, it had been over 18 minutes since the Pioneer defense and Stevenson allowed a goal. In that time, the Pioneers turned a 2-1 deficit into a lead of 8-2.

Oregon then tried its best to answer the Denver scoring outburst and went on a three goal run of its own.

The Ducks cut the Pioneers lead to 8-5 with five minutes remaining but Denver senior Rachael Dillon (Mount Sinai, N.Y.) had seen enough. Dillon put the game out of reach with two quick goals, preventing any hope for an Oregon comeback. Lucas added an empty net goal late in the game to put an exclamation point on the 11-5 victory.

The Pioneers will take on USC Friday night at 7 p.m. Tickets to this event are currently available for purchase at the University of Denver ticket office.