Round one for the battle at the top of the Pac-12 went to USC on Maeve McMahon's wild overtime goal that gave the Trojans an 8-7 victory at home over Colorado.
USC's Kerrigan Miller tried to hit McMahon cutting in front of the Colorado goal, but the pass was a little ahead of McMahon. McMahon stretched out and the ball deflected off the end of her stick past Colorado goalie Julia Lisella for the winning goal.
.@KaeliHuff had herself a day! She scores goals in @USCTrojansLax's victory over Colorado.#Pac12Lax pic.twitter.com/2fqdtpMHby
— Pac-12 Network (@Pac12Network) March 17, 2018
It was one of the few times USC beat Lisella. The sophomore finished the game with 17 saves, her fourth straight game in double digits, to keep Colorado in the game.
No. 15 Colorado held No. 12 USC scoreless for the first 21 minutes of the game, jumping out to a 3-0 lead, and had a 5-3 lead in the second half, but needed a miracle to force overtime. With USC clinging to a 7-6 lead, Colorado's Jen Mistretta forced a turnover with just 15 seconds left and then Darby Kiernan scored the game-tying goal with just eight seconds left.
In the overtime period, McMahon won the draw to start the overtime and then scored the game-winner just 41 seconds into the period.
Kaeli Huff led the Trojans with four goals, two of them coming during a four-goal run in the second half, that turned Colorado's 5-3 lead into a 7-5 USC lead. Izzy McMahon had the other two USC goals during the run.
USC's defense forced Colorado into 19 turnovers with Miller wreaking havoc all over the field. Miller had seven caused turnovers in the game in addition to the assist for the winning goal. Gussie Johns was solid net for the Trojans (4-3, 2-0 Pac 12), finishing with nine saves.
Kiernan led Colorado (5-3, 2-1 Pac 12) with four goals.
The two teams will meet again on April 6 in Boulder, Colo.
Syracuse Outguns Harvard 20-13
PHOTO BY JOHN STROHSACKER
Nicole Levy was one of four Syracuse players to notch a hat trick in Syracuse's 20-13 win over Harvard on Friday afternoon at Tierney Field. A six-goal run in the second half helped Syracuse pull away from an 11-9 lead.
Eleven different players scored goals, including four with hat tricks, as Syracuse downed Havard 20-13 on Friday after on Tierney Field at US Lacrosse headquarters in Sparks, Md.
No. 8 Syracuse scored two goals in the opening 54 seconds of the game and the offense never really slowed down. The Orange scored 10 goals in each half and never trailed in the contest.
The Orange led just 11-9 early in the second half, but then went on a six-goal run, stretching the lead to 17-9 on Sam Swart's goal with 14:32 left in the game.
Swart was one of four Syracuse players with hat tricks, joining Nicole Levy, Emily Hawryschuk and Kelzi Van Atta.
Freshman goalie Hannah Van Middel came off the bench early in the second half and made five saves while allowing just four goals to help Syracuse pull away. Julie Cross had seven draw controls for Syracuse,
Kelsey McAfee and Robyn White each had three goals for Harvard and Cecila Concannon had a game-high nine draw controls. Meredith Brown entered the game midway through the first half and finished with 10 saves.