Three up, three down.

For the third successive season, the Denver Pioneers opened the season with a win over the Stanford Cardinal. And for the 2019 cherry on top, the Pios took out Cal to complete the Bay Area sweep in some nasty weather.

“Everyone is excited,” Denver coach Liza Kelly said. “It was a pretty hard trip. Usually going to California is nice and warm and sunny, but it was cold and rainy. Everyone was beat up from the mud and rain on Friday [at Stanford], but we were able to get two wins.”

Friday’s 8-7 victory didn’t come without its difficulties, however, as the Pioneers’ 7-1 halftime lead evaporated on that cold, wet night. The Cardinal stormed back and nearly knotted things up, but a buzzer beating try was ruled out after goalie Carson Gregg stopped it just shy of the goal line.

Kelly noted that the conditions deteriorated as the game went on, but it wasn’t the cause for Denver’s second-half slump.

“It was awful,” Kelly said. “Barring a snow storm, it was the worst rain game I’ve coached in a while.”

Despite the turbulent weather and a surging Stanford side, Denver was able to bunker down and hold on for the difficult win over a fierce rival. 

“I think Stanford has always been our biggest rivalry as long as I’ve been here,” Kelly said of the former Mountain Pacific Sports Federation foes. “The girls continue to look forward to playing them even though only the seniors played them when we were in the same conference.”

Denver made sure to cap a successful weekend with a 13-4 victory over Cal, another former MPSF rival. In Sunday’s win, the Pioneers outshot the Bears 35-13. While Hannah Liddy poured in five points against Stanford, Denver relied on Bea Behrins for a five-goal day against Cal, connecting on all her shots. 

Bea’s sister, Elizabeth, was vital to the Pioneers’ defensive effort all weekend long. After a three ground ball, three caused turnover effort on Friday, Elizabeth was a menace to the Golden Bears with five caused turnovers and six ground balls.

“It was a good weekend for them,” said Kelly. “[Bea’s] been practicing well, shooting well. It was great for her to put that together. I’ve been begging [Elizabeth] to play defense. Her offensive mindset allows her to understand movements well and she played very fearlessly.”

As for Liddy, the sophomore attacker already more than doubled her point output from a year ago (5) by tallying five goals and six assists.

“She’s a really smart player,” Kelly said of Liddy. “She sees the field well, connects well with the girls on the field. She’s developed herself into a triple threat: one-on-one, passing and she cut well. It makes her hard to mark.”

The Pioneers conceded just 11 goals all weekend, while seeing their opponents commit 47 turnovers. A key cog to the defensive unit was Kennedy Milburn who set the tone Friday night with three caused turnovers in the opening 22 minutes. 

With two wins secured, Denver will look to shore up some early season deficiencies at the draw circle and with the team’s second-half offense. The Pioneers were outdrawn 23-13 in the two games, while its first-half scoring (16) is over three times its second-half scoring (5).

Looking ahead, Denver welcomes Louisville to the Front Range on Saturday.

“I think it’s exciting to play at home for a bit,” Kelly added. “We’re hoping to get rested and have fun against Louisville. They’re potent. They can score. We have our work cut out for us.” 

Carter Crashes the Record Book

Madison Carter’s five points paced Penn State’s win over Towson on Saturday and elevated her over 200 points for her career, becoming just the 15th player in school history to do so. All four of her goals came in the second half as Penn State turned a 4-3 halftime deficit into a resounding 13-7 victory. For her efforts, Carter was named Brine/US Lacrosse Player of the Week.

Naslonski’s Springs for Double Digits

No player had a more explosive weekend on the stat sheet than Rutgers’ Taralyn Naslonski. The sophomore attacker tallied a career-high 10 points on seven goals and three assists to cruise the Scarlet Knights past LIU Brooklyn, 20-3. Naslonski scored two goals in the opening 68 seconds of the contest and by halftime had played a part in nine of Rutgers’ 16 markers. Naslonski is already a third of the way to the 31 points she registered as a freshman. 

Brewster Backstops Blue Hens

Kate Brewster was scintillating in net as she stopped 20 Temple shots in Delaware’s 7-4 win on Friday. The sophomore goalie’s performance was exemplary, conceding just one second-half goal against 11 saves, while Delaware was shutout offensively. Brewster’s save total was the most by a CAA goalie since 2012 and the most by a Blue Hen netminder since 2003 when Lauren Burtch saved 21 at Rutgers.

ECU Matches 2018 Win Total on Opening Weekend

East Carolina’s inaugural campaign saw the Pirates win just two games, the second of which didn’t occur until March 24. There’s already improvement in Greenville as the Pirates went 2-0 against in-state foes Winthrop (13-12) and Gardner-Webb (18-11). Last season, Winthrop beat ECU 17-9, while ECU eked by GWU 15-14. The 18 goals against Gardner-Webb were a single-game record for the nascent Pirates. For the weekend, Brittany Borchers tallied a team-best 11 points (4g, 7a) and Megan Pallozzi led the offense with seven goals.

Notre Dame’s Offense Hums

Samantha Lynch is back from injury and her 11 goals over two games paced a red-hot Fighting Irish offense that scored 40 goals in wins over Marquette (19-4) and Canisius (21-4). Notre Dame shot 54.8 percent from the field and went 7-for-14 from the free-position in its two routs. Notable mentions offensively were Jessi Masinko (5g, 5a) and Maddie Howe (6g, 3a).