Lacrosse Lays Claim to a Title
It鈥檚 fun to be first.
In 2011, the CU men鈥檚 and women鈥檚 cross-country teams both won at the inaugural Pac-12 championship meet.
In 2012, Tad Boyle鈥檚 basketball squad won four games in four nights to claim the first Pac-12 men鈥檚 conference title.
In 2018, CU women鈥檚 lacrosse became the first-ever regular season Pac-12 champs after finishing 9-1 in the conference and 12-4 overall. CU鈥檚 lone conference loss was in overtime at USC.
Unfortunately, Buffs lacrosse fell short of yet another first: Seeded No. 1 in the conference tournament, held in late April in Boulder, the team ran into a No. 2-seed Stanford squad bent on redemption. The Cardinal, which had lost two regular-season games to the Buffs, steamrolled CU 15-6.
鈥淲e got frustrated, we did dumb things and we weren鈥檛 tough enough to battle back against a team that鈥檚 very tough,鈥 CU coach Ann Elliott said after the loss.
The tournament started in promising fashion. CU had earned a first-round bye, then cruised past Oregon 16-6 in the second round.
But Stanford came out hot in the title match at Prentup Field, on April 29. Leading 7-2 at halftime, the Cardinal padded its lead with three goals in 34 seconds and four total in the first 2:35 of the second half.
The loss meant the Buffs, then ranked 14 in the nation, had to rely on an at-large bid to reach the NCAA Tournament. They got it, and advanced to the round of 16 鈥 the only Pac-12 team to do so 鈥攂efore falling to Florida 13-9.
Photo courtesy CU Athletics