March 9, 2001
DENVER, Colorado -
Freshman midfielder Carley Preble scored the go-ahead goal for California with 5:13 remaining in the match to deliver the Bears their first win on the road this season, an 8-7 victory over the University of Denver Pioneers Friday night at Pioneer Field.
Denver (1-4 overall) twice held one-goal leads in the first half, but California (2-3 overall, 0-2 in the WWLL) was able to tie the game up 3-3 on senior midfielder Sarah Wheatley's second goal of the half with 8:54 left on the clock. Both teams continued to play tight defense, a theme throughout the entire battle, taking the 3-3 tie into the break.
Senior midfielder Joelle LeMoult opened up the second half with he second goal of the night just 14 seconds after retaking the field, but the Pioneers fought back to take a 5-4 lead minutes later on back-to-back goals within 38 seconds of each other by sophomore defender Mariana Spry and freshman attacker Patience Baldwin.
California continued to press the attack, tying the game four minutes later on a goal from freshman midfielder Julianne Wu. Freshman attacker Colleen O'Mara recorded her second assist of the night on Wu's goal.
Neither team could make a dent in the score for a 12 minute stretch before trading goals within a minute of each other to tie the game for a sixth time at 6-6 before back-to-back goals from freshman attacker Emily Edwards and Preble gave the Bears an insurmountable 8-6 lead. Freshman attacker Noemi Hites scored with 2:01 to play but the Pioneers were unable to break through the Cal defense a second time to force another tie.
"Tonight was an awesome lacrosse game all around," said Denver head coach Abby Burbank. "You had two evenly matched teams that played well and it was nice to see the bleachers full of fans and have the youth teams coming up and asking the players for autographs after the game."
California returns to action on Pioneer Field Sunday, March 11th, when it plays American University at 12 noon.
GOALS: Cal - LeMoult 2, Wheatley 2, Preble 1, Kado 1, Edwards 1, Wu 1, Denver - Spry 3, Hites 2, Baldwin 2. ASSISTS: Cal - O'Mara 2, Preble 1, Kado 1, Wu 1, Denver - Baldwin 1. SAVES: Cal - Coelho 10, Denver - Hazard 11. SHOTS: Cal 28, Denver 21.
