Denver Advances to MPSF Semifinals The Pioneers defeat Saint Mary’s College, 17-10

Denver Advances to MPSF Semifinals The Pioneers defeat Saint Mary’s College, 17-10

MORAGA, Calif. – Junior Tanya Fuchs (Bay Shore, N.Y) recorded six points off a Denver best five assists and one goal to lift the University of Denver women’s lacrosse team to a 17-10 victory over the Saint Mary’s College Gaels in the quarterfinals of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Championship at Saint Mary’s Stadium on Thursday, May 5. The Pioneers’ third consecutive win improves them to 7-11 overall. SMC falls to 1-16.

Denver’s three-game winning streak matches its longest ever. The Pioneers also won three consecutive games in 2003.

The Gaels took an early lead with Rosy Iaccino and Ally High scoring the first two goals of the contest. After the two teams traded goals, and with SMC leading 4-2, Denver answered with goals by junior Steph Greenlees (Lake Forest, Ill.), and senior Tara Bourdelaise (Grambrills, Md.) to even the score at 4-4.

High scored her third goal of the game at the 15:07 mark, and after Greenlees evened the score at 5-5, Iaccino and Jen Utley put the Gaels ahead 7-5 with 2:54 remaining in the first half. Denver answered with two goals in the final two minutes as senior Crystal Jack (Kingwood, Texas) scored at the 28:23 mark and freshman Victoria Baines (Parker, Colo.) knotted the score at 7-7 just 17 seconds later.

Denver scored at will early in the second half, as the Pioneers scored eight goals in the first 7:24 of the second half to take a 15-7 lead with 22:36 remaining in the contest. Saint Mary's ended the scoring drought when Jessica Tsou took an assist from High at the 44:52 mark. Following the goal by Tsou, Denver answered with back-to-back goals before SMC scored two of the final three tallies of the game.

Greenlees and Jack both tallied hat tricks for Denver. Baines, Bourdelaise, Kelly O’Connell (Baltimore, Md.) and Kiley Murphy (Wilton, Conn.) each scored twice for the Pioneers. Fuchs and sophomore Kate Broderick (Chantilly, Va.) also registered a goal.

Saint Mary's had three players score multiple goals in the game as Utley led the Gaels with four goals, High added three goals and Iaccino scored twice.

Senior goalkeeper Steph Schneider (Leesburg, Va.) posted nine saves in the Pioneer cage. Katie Augustine took the loss in net for the Gaels as she also collected nine saves. Denver had an advantage in shots (36-27), groundballs (16-12) and draw controls (17-12). Utley had a game-high eight shots, Schneider tallied a game-best five groundballs and Greenlees registered a game-high six draw controls.

The Pioneers return to action on Friday, May 6, when they play the second-seeded California Golden Bears in the semifinals of the MPSF Championship at 5 p.m. MT. California defeated Denver 17-12 in last year’s semifinals. The Pioneers also dropped a 7-6 decision to the Golden Bears earlier this season in Denver.

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