April 14, 2016 StatBroadcast (Sunday) | AggieStudios (Tuesday) | StatBroadcast (Tuesday)
A Mountain Pacific Sports Federation split -- specifically, Wednesday's twilight win over California followed by a tough Sunday setback at Oregon -- keeps UC Davis women's lacrosse in a virtual tie for fourth in the conference standings. The Aggies continue their pursuit of an MPSF tournament berth with Sunday's road game at Stanford followed by Tuesday's Senior Night home finale against Fresno State.
Senior attacker
Ellie Delich enjoyed a career-best game on both ends of the field in the 7-5 victory against the Golden Bears. She notched a personal-record five goals in the attacking third, while her two steals near the Cal cage directly led to scores. Delich intercepted a clearing pass and immediately flipped the ball into the net. Her next caused turnover allowed teammate
Courtney Neff to scoop the ground ball and go straight to the goal. Delich also delivered five ground balls in the game, yet another career high.
Sunday's loss to the Ducks bore striking resemblance to the April 1 home game against Colorado. Besides the scores (15-3 and 14-3), both contests had a similar flow: a close battle in the first half followed by a second-half explosion in the second. Sophomore goalie Lauren Ali posted nine saves -- her highest total since the Buffs -- with five stops helping to keep the Aggies in the hunt before the intermission.
"We want to stick to the same thing we've done all season: we want to focus on ourselves," said head coach Tee Ladouceur. "Oregon had a great second half against us. They hit corners, won draws and got ground balls. It just wasn't our day. If we can bring it back to focusing on us, we can hopefully get a good game out of it."
Overall, UC Davis struggled to just .294 shooting, and .143 if Delich's combined 6-for-6 is removed. Turnovers also played a part in the Oregon loss: the Aggies committed 16 miscues, with four coming immediately after draw controls during the second half. Making the most of each team possession will be particularly important in Sunday's game against Stanford, which rates 10th in the 10-team MPSF in caused turnovers (5.55 per game). This stat may seem surprising if not for another category: the Cardinal leads the league and ranks fifth nationally with 14.18 draw controls per contest. In other words, stealing the ball becomes less necessary when a team is winning it in the first place.
"Stanford is a really good team that will score some goals and win some draws," Ladouceur says. "So it will be about focusing on us, making sure we're having fun, and sticking to what we do. We want to learn from those mistakes. We can't expect our kids to play perfectly every game, but it's about making sure we can learn and turn it around."
STANFORD (10-2, 5-0) extended its home winning streak to 11 with Monday's 19-5 drubbing of California. Junior attacker Kelsey Murray scored five goals with two assists to lead the offense, while senior and two-time All-MPSF honoree Meg Lentz notched two steals and a game-high four ground balls in the defensive third. Murray paces the Cardinal in both goals (30) and assists (16), showing she has returned strong from the injury that halted her 2015 season after just four games.
FRESNO STATE (4-8, 1-5) had a weekend bye after its 15-5 win at Cal back on April 3, which in turn halted a five-game losing skid. The Bulldogs have three chances to capture their school-record fifth win: at home against Stanford on Tax Day, at UC Davis on Tuesday, and in their home finale with Saint Mary's on April 24. Junior Caroline Dineen-Carlson netted a career-best six goals in that April 3 victory, garnering her an MPSF Offensive Player of the Week nod. Nicole Ortlieb leads FSU and ranks third in the conference with 2.33 goals (28 total), including seven tallies against Cal.
"Tuesday is Senior Day and we want to play for our seniors," said Ladouceur. "Fresno is a good team that are not to be overlooked. They also beat Cal along with a couple of other good wins on the year. They're aggressive and scrappy, and they'll go hard. They're looking to get a win out of it, so we are going to have to come out hard. It's the last home game on that field for six of our players, so we want a good game out of it. Again, we want to focus on us and not worry about what other teams are doing."
Indeed, the home finale will honor a senior class that has weathered two coaching changes. The fourth-year fivesome of Delich, Neff, Mary Doyle, Sam Axenroth and Savannah Hadley were signed by then head coach Elaine Jones, remained committed to UC Davis during a two-month transition period before Kate Henwood was announced to the helm, and stayed intact to complete their careers for Ladouceur.
Doyle and Neff, both products of the Lamorinda area, have been the most decorated of that crew. Doyle, a 2013 All-MPSF honoree, has started 58 consecutive games heading into the upcoming weekend. Her 115 ground balls are the most since Molly Peterson's 127 from 2007-10 while her 137 draw controls ranks her fourth in school history. Neff is the program's first two-time IWLCA Academic Honor Roll member since volunteer assistant Hilary Harkins (2007 and 2008). Her 66 goals makes her the Aggies' active scoring leader.
British Columbia's Delich has enjoyed a career year as a senior, leading UC Davis in total points (25) and ground balls (25), thanks in large part to last week's game against Cal. She enters this weekend with 62 career goals, with her 17 in 2016 already matching her previous season bests set in both 2013 and 2014. Axenroth, the lone East Coast product of the 2011-12 signing class, has also made the most of her final year. She has shot 7-for-9 to more than double her previous career scoring total, with two-goal performances against Vermont and Saint Mary's during the March homestand. Hadley also has emerged in her swan song season, bolstering a veteran defensive crew with seven steals and 10 ground balls. She actually has one more year of eligibility, having earned a medical hardship for her injury-shortened 2014 season, but has opted to graduate this spring.
Of course, the senior stateswoman of the UC Davis senior class is Morgan Sissler, the lone fifth-year veteran who originally arrived with the sizable 2010-11 NLI signing class that included 2015 grads Elizabeth Landry, Allie Lehner and Kai Murphy.
"The seniors are all captains, and they are captains for a reason," said Ladouceur. "Throughout the season, with the unknown of a new coach, they have had shown leadership qualities and held this team together. They were awesome at welcoming in the new staff. They have believed in the process and believed in what we're teaching. It has been very nice."
QUICK STICKS: Wednesday's 7-5 win over California marks the first time UC Davis has claimed a victory without an assist since March 8, 2014 against -- oh, yes -- California... It also marked the first time since 2005 that the Aggies won a game with seven goals or fewer... Credit the defense (only 13 shots against) and overall ball control (just 9 turnovers)... Not counting games against clubs, the school record for a goals in a winning performance was a 4-1 defensive battle against Stanford on April 5, 1998.
At 3-2 in MPSF games, UC Davis holds a "virtual tie" with Oregon (4-3) for fourth place... However, the Ducks would now hold the tiebreaker between the two teams due to Sunday's head-to-head win... Oregon has Denver and Colorado for the remainder of its season... The Aggies need at least two wins in their final four games to likely ensure a conference tournament berth... A 1-3 mark the rest of the way puts their fate in the numerous outcomes, especially the April 22 meeting of Denver at Oregon... In fact, that date may be the conference's marquee spot on the calendar: besides Denver-Oregon, UC Davis faces San Diego State while USC hosts Stanford.
