March 7, 2003

Denver, Colo. - The University of California women's lacrosse team won its conference opener this afternoon with a 12-10 decision over the Denver Pioneers on Pioneer Field in Denver. Freshman Leanne Zilioli led the offensive attack with the first hat trick of her collegiate career.

The night began with both teams trading two goals each, with junior Julianne Wu and Erin Hafkenschiel giving California la 2-0 lead in the first minute of the game. Denver's Tara Bourdelaise and Patience Baldwin knotted the game at 2-2 with back-to-back socres. The Bears looked to take control of the game at that point and tallied the next three goals to give Cal a 5-2 lead at the 12:35 mark. Zilioli tallied two scores and sophomore Lauren Karl netted her first goal of the season, giving the Bears the 5-2 lead. Nineteen seconds later an answer came from Denver as Baldwin kicked off her own three-goal tear which tied the game for a second time. For the next seven minutes both defenses stiffened up until California's Wu scored her second goal of the game to give the Bears a 6-5 lead heading into the intermission.

The second stanza began as Pioneer sophomore Courtnay Gerl found the back of the net with 27:06 on the clock. However, the Bears responded nine seconds later and recorded their first of two-straight tallies on Molly Brady's eighth goal of the season and Freya Lund's first. The next four minutes belonged to the home team though, as Denver netted three of the next four goals including scores from senior Sarah Medwell and sophomores Crystal Jack and Beth Cordova to tie the game once again at 9-9. The game continued to remain close for the next six minutes with both teams notching goals until the Bears got two goals from Colleen O'Mara to give California the 12-10 advantage with 9:02 left to play. That was how the game ended as neither squad would tally a score for the game's final nine minutes.

The Bears extended their all-time advantage over the Pioneers to 5-1 while tallying their first MPLL victory of the season. Denver fell to 2-3 overall and 0-1 in conference play.

Cal returns to action Sunday, March 9 as it challenges Mount Saint Mary's at 11:00 a.m. (PST) at Pioneer Field in Denver.

BOX SCORE:

	         1      2       F
California        6      6      12
Denver            5      5      10

GOALS: Cal - Zilioli 3, O'mara 2, Wu 2, Queisser 1, Lund 1, Karl 1, Brady 1, Hafkenschiel 1; DENVER - Baldwin 4, Gerl 1, Medwell 1, Bourdelaise 1, Drotar 1, Cordova 1, Jack 1. ASSISTS: Cal - O'Mara 2, Queisser 1, Wu 1. DENVER - Baldwin 1.

GOALKEEPING: CAL - Eden Coelho (60 minutes, 14 saves, 10 goals allowed); DENVER - Steph Schneider (60 minutes, 12 saves, 12 goals allowed).

SHOTS: DENVER 36, CAL 30; FREE POSITION SHOTS: DENVER 12, CAL 6; GROUNDBALLS: DENVER 14, CAL 22; FOULS: DENVER 1, CAL 0; TURNOVERS: DENVER 14, CAL 17; CAUSED TURNOVERS: DENVER 8, CAL 4; DRAW CONTROLS: DENVER 15, CAL 9.