May 3, 2003

Stanford, Calif. - The #2 seed California women's lacrosse team (11-5, 4-1, MPLL) advanced to its second consecutive MPLL Championship game with a 15-6 victory over #3 seed Denver in the semifinals of the 2003 MPLL Championship Tournament at Maloney Field in Stanford. Seven players tallied a score in the win, led by Leanne Zilioli's four goals.

In the game's early minutes, it was evident that the Bears had the advantage in both size and speed. Once the Pioneers were able to get into a set offense, the Cal defense was stifling, limiting Denver to either misguided shots or turnovers. In fact, the Bears held the 15th-ranked offense in the nation (11.91 goals per game average) to just six goals on the day. On the offensive side, the final score could have been even more lopsided, as Molly Brady and Emily Edwards had multiple shots ricochet of the pipes.

"We've been working on our ball distribution aspect of our attack," said head coach Jill Malko. "The practice really paid off as we distributed the ball real well today and worked well as a team. Lauren Karl did a good job on defense, holding Patience Baldwin to just two goals, and Freya Lund was as solid as ever."

"My job was to mark Patience (Baldwin)," said Karl. "But everybody else did a great job with their off-the-ball help defense. We had amazing communication out there ... we are really gelling on the defensive side of the ball."

The nation's 10th place goal scorer, Denver's Patience Baldwin, started the scoring 2:29 into the game. She took a pass on the outside of the center circle and turned on the speed, cruising past the Cal defense to give the Pioneers the early 1-0 lead. The Bears had only scored the first goal in a game on three separate occasions this year, so there was no sign of nervousness of the Cal sideline.

Julianne Wu erased any thoughts of a shutout as she picked her way through the Denver defense just 22 seconds later to knot the game at 1-1. Leanne Zilioli and junior attacker Colleen O'Mara followed suit, as O'Mara connected with Zilioli for the next two scores and then decided to chip in one herself to hand the Bears a 4-1 advantage with 11:17 left to play in the first half. As if responding to her teammates' performance, Wu got back into the action connecting with O'Mara on a beautiful feed from behind the net for the one-timer. Wu then got back on the board with her second goal of the day at the 22:03 mark extending the Cal lead to 6-1. Denver's Tanya Fuchs then found an open Mariana Spry at the 27:49 mark, ending a 25:20 scoring drought for the Pioneers.

The Bears caught a break at the end of the first half, as Cal's keeper, senior tri-captain Eden Coelho, left the net to make a defensive play. An unlucky bounce turned Denver's way with two ticks left on the clock, but the Pioneers missed the empty net just wide. The teams went into the break with a 6-2 Cal lead.

As if tired of watching her teammates handle the scoring load, attacker Emily Edwards jumpstarted the squad in the second half, scoring three consecutive goals marking her eighth multiple goal game of the season. Denver's Fuchs sandwiched a goal between Edwards' hat trick and the Bears led 9-3 with 17:08 left to play. Cal then proceeded to put the game out of reach by scoring four unanswered goals in the next 10 minutes to take a 13-3 lead. Zilioli and O'Mara each tallied their third goals of the afternoon, while junior Carley Preble and freshman Kally Perkins each posted their first.

The Pioneers' Steph Greenlees notched Denver's second goal of the half at the 52:56 mark, but Zilioli and O'Mara connected for the third time as the Cal freshman recorded her fourth score of the afternoon. Senior tri-captain Jessie Liu capped of the Bears' offensive onslaught with her fourth goal of the year at the 56:36 mark.

Denver tacked on two goals in the final minutes, but Cal put up its highest offensive output of the season with a 15-6 victory. With her three assists on the afternoon, Colleen O'Mara set a new Cal single season record for assists in a season with 25. The previous best was 24, set by former Cal midfielder Halsey Monger during the 2000 season. O'Mara now has 40 assists for her career, putting her in a tie for second-place all-time for career assists.

"It was a great victory because we played with a lot of intensity and we played together as a team," said O'Mara. "It was good preparation for tomorrow to get our confidence up for the championship match."

Cal will face Stanford at 1:00 p.m. Sunday, May 4 for rights to the 2003 MPLL Championship. Last year Stanford defeated Cal, 16-7, in the title game in Berkeley.

BOX SCORE: Denver vs. California, May 3, 2003 Stanford, Calif. (Maloney Field)

	            1      2       F
Denver	            2	   4       6
California 	    6	   9	   15

GOALS: CAL - Leanne Zilioli 4, Colleen O'Mara 3, Emily Edwards 3, Julianne Wu 2, Kally Perkins, Carley Preble, Jessie Liu. DENVER - Patience Baldwin 2, Beth Cordova, Mariana Spry, Steph Greenlees, Tanya Fuchs.

ASSISTS: CAL - Colleen O'Mara 3, Julianne Wu 2 DENVER - Tanya Fuchs.

GOALKEEPING: CAL - Eden Coelho (54 minutes, 4 goals allowed); Kathryn Calligaro (6 minutes, 1 save, 2 goals allowed) DENVER - Steph Schneider (60 minutes, 15 goals allowed)

SHOTS: DENVER 16, CAL 39; FREE POSITION SHOTS: DENVER 5, CAL 4; GROUNDBALLS: DENVER 43, CAL 27; FOULS: DENVER 25, CAL 18; TURNOVERS: DENVER 10, CAL 22; CAUSED TURNOVERS: DENVER 10, CAL 18; DRAW CONTROLS: DENVER 5, CAL 15.