STOCKTON, Calif. – It wasn't the ending they were looking for.
The Cougars season came to a close on Saturday afternoon as a second half rally came-up short in an 11-8 loss to Santa Clara at the Golden Coast Conference tournament.
Azusa Pacific, who played 11 nationally ranked teams during their campaign, finishes with a 10-17 record.
Scoresheet
Alba Espinar, the conference's Newcomer of the Year, got things starting in the right direction by scoring the game's only first period goal. The junior's net-finder came on the extra-person attack with 6:50 left in the frame. Katie Margot made the goal stand-up by making four blocks in front of the cage during the first eight minutes of the game.
A nip-and-tuck second period ensued. Santa Clara scored their initial goal just over 90 seconds into the second period on an Elizabeth Anderson extra-person attack tally. The Broncos took the lead with 6:01 left in the period on an Elle Surber goal. Azusa Pacific shrugged off the goals with one of their own as Ashley Taylor found the back of the cage less than 90 seconds later. The teams traded the next two goals before the Broncos' Lauren Radich gave her team a 4-3 lead at the halftime break with 51 seconds left in the frame.
The opening two minutes of the third period proved critical as the Broncos grabbed a three-goal edge with 6:07 left in the period on goals by Anderson and Surber. The Cougars rallied as they scored three of the next five goals to close out the period. During that final minutes of the frame Taylor Whitney, Espinar and Courtney Folsom scored as they Cougars were down just 8-6 with eight minutes left.
Santa Clara grabbed their three-goal edge back with the first goal on the final period 54 seconds in the stanza. Trailing by a 9-6 count, the Cougars got goals by Britt Harris and Taylor as they put themselves in prime striking distance to rally for the win. However, Santa Clara took advantage of an extra-person attack opportunity to up their lead to 10-8 with 3:19 left.
On the Cougars ensuing chance they had an extra-person attack but couldn't find the back of the net. Unfortunately the Cougars couldn't complete their rally as the Broncos all but put the game out of reach with an extra-person goal as the clock read 1:13 left.
Espinar posted a hat trick in contest to bring her season total to 43. Taylor's two goals increased her season total to 30. Whitney closed out her Azusa Pacific career with 203 goals; the most in school history. Folsom's four-year run ends with exactly 114 career goals.
Margot finished the game with seven saves.
