May 5, 2007
DAVIS, Calif. - Fourth-seeded California played another close game with 15th-ranked and top-seeded Denver but lost to the Pioneers, 7-6, on Saturday afternoon at Aggie Stadium in the MPSF Championship semifinal round. The Golden Bears, who lost to Denver, 14-12, on April 28 in Denver, now move on to play the loser of the Stanford-Oregon semifinal at 11 a.m. tomorrow in the conference tournament's third-place game.
The game between the Cardinal and the Ducks was scheduled to start at 5 p.m. today. Denver will play the winner of that game in tomorrow's final.
Senior attackers Liz Reifsnyder and Laura Cavallo and sophomore midfielder Elizabeth "T" Jahp led Cal with two points each against the Pioneers, with Reifsnyder and Jahp each scoring two goals and Cavallo collecting one goal and one assist. Cavallo's goal tied her career-high single-season total of 44 that she set in 2005.
Denver's Kristi Leggio, this season's MPSF Player of the Year, led all scorers with four points (2 goals, 2 assists), while teammate Ali Flury, the 2007 MPSF Newcomer of the Year, scored three points (2, 1). Denver outshot Cal, 23-16, though the Bears had the edge in draw controls, 8-7. The teams tied in ground balls, at 17-17.
Cavallo tallied the first goal of a low-scoring first half with an unassisted strike at 1:17. But Leggio and Flury then scored to give DU a 2-1 lead at 4:07.
Reifsnyder struck at 13:23 to give Cal a 2-2 tie that it took into halftime.
In the second half, Flury led the Pioneers to a 4-2 lead by scoring on a free-position shot at 32:43 and setting up Steph Coyne's goal at 34:30.
Cal rallied to score the next three goals, with Jahp scoring at 42:17 and 43:24 and sophomore Madeleine Dale scoring at 48:46, and take a 5-4 advantage.
|
|
 |
Leggio scored and then set up two more goals to give the Pioneers a 7-5 lead at 56:00.
After a foul by DU's Natasha Davies, Reifsnyder scored on a free-position shot to cut the Cal deficit to one goal at 7-6.
But Denver won the ensuing draw control and the Bears never got another shot, as the Pioneers clinched their trip to the conference title game.
GAME SUMMARY
1 2 F California 2 4 6 Denver 2 5 7
California Scoring
Goals: Liz Reifsnyder 2; Elizabeth T Jahp 2; Laura Cavallo 1; Madeleine Dale 1. Assists: Laura Cavallo 1; Danni Zuralow 1.
Denver Scoring
Goals: Leggio, Kristie 2; Flury, Ali 2; Coyne, Steph 2; Morton, Karen 1. Assists: Leggio, Kristie 2; Flury, Ali 1.
Goalkeeping
California: Hilary Lynch, 12 saves, 5 GA, 56:55; Morgan Dyson, 0 saves, 2 GA, 3:05. Denver: Becky Childs, 8 saves, 6 GA, 60:00.
Records
California 7-9. Denver 16-2.
