April 18, 2014
SAN DIEGO - The San Diego State women's lacrosse team suffered a home loss to No. 13/9 Stanford, 15-10, on Friday afternoon in the Aztecs first game at Aztec Lacrosse Field since March 16.
SDSU (6-8, 3-4 MPSF) trailed by just one, 4-3, after a goal by junior Bailey Ewing with 7:48 remaining in the first half, before the Cardinal scored the last four goals of the first half and the first six of the second half to take a commanding 14-3 advantage. The Aztecs showed a lot of heart in the second half, however, scoring six of the game's final seven goals before eventually running out of time.
Junior Lauren Maack led the way for San Diego State, finishing with two goals, two assists, two groundballs and a team-high three caused turnovers, while reigning Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) Defensive Player of the Week Christina Ricciardulli came just shy or matching a program record with seven draw controls, along with two goals and two groundballs. Freshman Vickie Porter tallied five draws, as she and sophomore Andrea Killebrew scored two goals apiece for SDSU, while junior defender Madison Wallace scooped up three groundballs and had two caused turnovers.
Despite the loss, the Aztecs controlled nearly every statistical category. San Diego State outshot Stanford, 31-25, doubled up the Cardinal in draw controls, 18-9, and finished the contest tied in groundballs, 21-21. In the end, SDSU's inability to stop Stanford's scoring run was the difference in the game.
"Stanford is a top-15 team, it just took too long to find our confidence," head coach Kylee White said. "We just had to get out of our funk as a team. But I'm really excited for Sunday (against Oregon). The way we're playing is better lacrosse than earlier in the season when we were winning."
Sophomore Felice Artuso's free-position goal less than a minute into the game gave the Aztecs the early lead, and Porter's goal off a pass from Maack cut the deficit to 4-2 with 21:09 left in the first half. Ricciardulli, Porter and Maack scored consecutive unassisted goals in the second half, and SDSU capped off its 5-0 surge with Killebrew's score off sophomore Alexa Comfort's pass and Ricciardulli's goal on an assist from Maack to make it 14-8 with 3:49 remaining.
San Diego State continues its three-game homestand to conclude the regular season on Sunday, April 20, as the Aztecs take on Oregon beginning at 1 p.m. PT at Aztec Lacrosse Field.