Denver women’s lacrosse (16-4, 5-0) faced #1 seed Northwestern, an eight-time national champion, in Evanston, Illinois Sunday afternoon. It wasn’t pretty. The Wildcats were +10 on draw control in the first half while burying eight goals on eight shots in the first quarter to take an 8-1 lead and coasted to a 17-4 win over Denver. The Wildcats have won 32 straight games on their home field.
Northwestern got first-blood to gain an early lead. The Wildcats continued to pour it on with four consecutive goals. The Wildcats Izzy Scane made it 5-0, earning the NCAA scoring record (359 goals) and extending Northwestern’s lead to 5-0 on their fifth consecutive draw control. Julia Gilbert finally got Denver on the board at 6:24, 5-1. Another draw control win by the Wildcats resulted in yet another Northwestern score. A turnover by DU led to a breakaway for NU and a dunk, 7-1. A goal by NU’s Sam Smith made it 8-1 and all but extinguished Denver’s hopes as the first quarter ended.
A Julia Gilbert free position goal along with a Lauren Black tally narrowed the score to 8-3 with under eleven minutes remaining in the second quarter. However, Northwestern responded with five straight goals, three by Scane, 13-3.
The running clock carried over to the second half and Denver was held scoreless for the quarter. However, NU was not done registering goals on the score sheet. The Wildcats Taylor Madison scored first at 7:55 of the third quarter and Scane scored again to build a massive 15-3 NU lead heading into the final fifteen minutes.
The final quarter was meaningless as the outcome was already determined. NU added two more goals to the final score, 17-4. Sloane Kipp added DU’s only goal of the quarter.
Overall, while the season record for DU was very good, this season fell short of preseason expectations. Despite some key additions and returning talent, DU never played at a level capable of beating the nation’s elite lacrosse programs. Key injuries, especially to Sam Thacker, didn’t help. The Pioneers never had the overall talent, chemistry and depth to compete for a national championship. Denver falls to 0-9 against Northwestern. Northwestern faces Penn in the next round.
Ouch. Pios got badly curb-stomped and you could see this rout coming from miles away. DU lost to all four top 10 teams they played this year, and were a top 10 team but not a top 5 team.
On paper, this DU team should have been better with the talent they had in the lineup than 16-4. But the other good teams were ready for DU this year, and DU’s vaunted “hot pink” defense got burned for double digit goals in three of its four losses.
Sad way to end it in uncompetitive fashion.
Disappointing end to ther season. But, the DU women’s lax program is still one of the best in the country. Thanks for a good and almost great season Pioneers!