BOULDER (02/16/12) – The University of Colorado women’s lacrosse team, currently ranked third in the Women's Collegiate Lacrosse Association, heads to California for their first competition of the spring season.
The Buffs will travel to the Santa Barbara Shootout Tournament to compete against the University of Oregon, California Polytechnic State University, the University of Pittsburgh and the University of California Santa Barbara.
This will be the Buffs first meeting with each of the teams.
“We expect the bar to be set higher than ever and we want to prove this weekend that the Buffs are one of the best teams on the field,” said head coach Jessica Tomlinson. “We are a young team with some excellent new players, as well as a group of seasoned returning players and we are eager to take advantage of the games we play this weekend to bring the team together.”
This semester the team has new girls, but overall remains very strong and dynamic.
“The whole team is really excited to go to this tournament,” said senior defenseman Audra Horton. “The fall is the time when play starts to get extremely competitive so we have to remain focused and ready.”
The spring competitions count toward their overall rankings and therefore, depending on the level of play the Buffs bring to the field, will be contigent on whether or not they will qualify to go to nationals.
“We want to use this tournament to ramp up the level of our play as we set our sights on future tournaments,” said Tomlinson. “The championship will be in our home state this year, so this tournament will set the bar for the remainder of the season.”
Colorado will open the weekend on Friday at 1:30 p.m. against Oregon. They will go on to play two additional games on Saturday, beginning with Cal Poly at 10:30 a.m. and Pittsburgh at 1:30 p.m. The Buffs will conclude the weekend on Sunday at 12 p.m. against UCSB. All games are in Pacific Standard Time.
