Box Score| Season Stats

STANFORD, Calif. - The University of Denver women's lacrosse team fell to Stanford 9-5 Friday in the Pioneers' first Mountain Pacific Sports Federation game since February 14. Denver is 4-6 on the season and holds a 1-2 record in the MPSF.

Senior captain Christa Reese (Lutherville, Md.) led DU with three goals, including two game-tying goals, for her fourth hat trick of the season.

The Pioneers and the Cardinal played back-and-forth lacrosse for the first half, with Stanford beginning and finishing the scoring. Stanford had four different goal-scorers in the first half to earn a 4-3 advantage after 30 minutes.

Freshman Kendra Lanuza (Littleton, Colo.) kicked off Denver's offense with a goal 8:32 into the game off an assist from Casey White (Queensbury, N.Y.) to tie the game 1-1. White then scored a goal of her own 4:05 later on a free position attempt to tie the score 2-2.

Reese scored the third equalizer, her 20th goal of the season, with 7:57 remaining in the first half before the Cardinal recorded an assisted goal to gain a 4-3 lead at halftime.

Stanford got on the board first in the second half as well, notching a goal 1:56 into the second period for a 5-3 lead.

Reese erased the Cardinal lead as she tallied back-to-back goals for the fourth tie of the game and to complete her hat trick. Both of Reese's goals were unassisted, with the first coming with 21:45 remaining in the game and the second tied the game 5-5 with 13:08 to play.

Stanford regained the lead with 11:10 to go, which sparked a 4-0 run, including two extra-man goals, to close out the game. Once again, multiple players contributed to the Cardinal offense, with Kelsey Murray scoring the final goal with 1:54 remaining in the game, on a power-play possession following a Denver yellow card, for the final score of 9-5.

Denver led Stanford in shots, including landing one more shot on cage, but Cardinal goalie Allie DaCar had a .667 save percentage with 10 saves on the night. Stanford won the draw control battle, winning 12-of-17 draws, but the Pioneers committed only nine turnovers in the game, 10 fewer than the Cardinal.

Goalkeeper Maddy Stevenson (Bainbridge Island, Wash.) made five saves in the loss and picked up four groundballs. Defender Kennedy Millburn (Whitby, Ontario) also had four groundballs in the game and Sybil Pallace (Baltimore, Md.) led DU with two caused turnovers.

The Pioneers will continue their road trip to California as they face MPSF opponent UC Davis Sunday, April 3 at 2 p.m. MT.

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