WLAX v San Diego State (8 APR 16) - Highlights

Box Score| Season Stats

DENVER - Senior captain Christa Reese (Lutherville, Md.) led the University of Denver women's lacrosse team with five goals in the 15-6 victory over San Diego State Friday at Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium. The Pioneers are 5-7 on the season and hold a 2-3 record in the MPSF.

"I think this was just what the doctor ordered after last week," head coach Liza Kelly said. "We played well against Stanford, but UC Davis came out hard and we kind of crumbled. This week could have gone one of two ways. The team could have continued a downward spiral, but instead they really came to work this week in practice and it showed tonight."

Caitlin Derry (Seal Beach, Calif.) put the Pioneers on the board first, as she finished an assist from Kendra Lanuza (Littleton, Colo.), sparking a three-goal run in 1:38. Reese tallied her first goal 0:49 later, before Lanuza completed the run another 0:49 later as she ran around from behind the goal to score with 20:11 to play in first half, prompting a timeout by San Diego State.

The Aztecs drew a yellow card and did not give up on the play, causing a turnover to score their first goal of the game with 15:56 remaining in the first half.

Denver and San Diego State continued to play back-and-forth lacrosse as Reese scored her second goal with 14:14 remaining in the first half after Elizabeth Behrins (Basking Ridge, N.J.) passed her the ball on a free position attempt. SDSU followed suit as Alex Watson passed the ball to Mackenzie Lech on a free position attempt for the Aztecs' second goal of the game.

The Pioneers responded with a tic-tac-toe play for a goal. Riley Eggeman (Mission Viejo, Calif.) caused a turnover following a San Diego State draw control and passed the ball ahead to Nicole Martindale (Brooklin, Ontario), who dished the ball to Reese for her fifth hat trick of the season. Martindale passed the ball to senior captain Sarah Kasun (Bel Air, Md.) for another goal 1:16 later to put Denver up 6-2 with 11:39 to play in the first half.

SDSU scored with 10:04 on the clock to cut Denver's lead to 6-3 before the Pioneers closed out the first half with back-to-back goals. Audrey Schreck (Charlottesville, Va.) scored her first of the game off an assist from Behrins on a power play, and 0:53 later, Reese finished her fourth goal off an assist from Schreck. DU held an 8-3 lead at halftime.

Lanuza kicked off the scoring 1:05 into the second half with another unassisted goal. San Diego State scored its first of the half 2:03 later to make the score 9-4 in favor of Denver.

Kennedy Milburn (Whitby, Ontario) pushed the Pioneers into double-digits for the first time since their 11-5 win over Marquette with her first career goal. Milburn took the ball coast-to-coast and beat Aztec goalie Katrina Reeves with 22:01 remaining in the game.

San Diego State notched a pair of assisted goals in the middle of the second half to cut the deficit to 10-6 with 11:48 to play before Denver posted a five-goal run to finish the game.

Reese began the run with her career-high-tying fifth goal of the game, on a man-up opportunity with 9:41 remaining. Behrins tallied her first of the game 1:35 later, and Lanuza completed her first career hat trick with 7:35 left in the game on another power-play opportunity for the Pioneers. The stellar DU freshmen closed out the game as Schreck and Behrins each recorded another goal, with 5:15 and 2:40 remaining in the game, respectively.

The Pioneers outperformed the Aztecs in many areas on the field. Denver took more than twice as many shots as San Diego State, and landed exactly twice as many on goal, 22 to 11. The Pioneers also won the draw control battle, winning 13 to SDSU's nine. Ellie Knott (Baltimore, Md.) led the way with a career-high six draw controls.

DU also caused 14 turnovers in the game, including a career-high four caused turnovers by Hunter Gray (Mount Laurel, N.J.), who also picked up a career-high four groundballs in the victory. Goalie Maddy Stevenson (Bainbridge Island, Wash.) made five saves, all in the second half, to preserve the Denver win.

The Pioneers will continue their four-game homestand Sunday as they host [6/7] USC at 12 p.m. MT. The game will be broadcast on Altitude TV with Brad Thompson and Kara Cannizzaro on the call.

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