#2 Rams Advance to RMLC Finals with 8-6 win over #6 CU

Boulder, CO – In their second meeting in three weeks, the #2 Colorado State Rams defeated the #6 Colorado Buffaloes 8-6 in the RMLC semifinals Friday night. On an evening that featured very slick field conditions and intermittent rain showers, the Rams trailed 5-4 at halftime, but held the Buffaloes scoreless over nearly 47 minutes of game time on their way to the victory.

Two weeks after a convincing 13-5 win over CU in the Rocky Mountain Lacrosse Showdown at INVESCO Field, CSU’s offense continued to click in the first quarter. Behind the strong efforts of several midfielders, the Rams jumped out to a 4-1 lead and it appeared that it was going to be a long night for the Buffaloes. But CU gathered some momentum, getting a goal from long stick midfielder Cameron Dunford to get things going. Brian Lemery than had a goal and an assist on two quick CU goals as the Buffs narrowed the gap to 4-3 after one period.

The second quarter was all CU as the Buffs dug in defensively behind the efforts of sophomore goaltender Kevin Moriarty. After struggling to get going several weeks ago, Moriarty was much improved this time around and made several nice saves in the second period as the Buffs took a 5-4 lead into the halftime break. The Buffs built their momentum around the face-off play of Tyler Wood, who finished with a very solid 12 wins in 16 attempts.

After some defensive play in the third, CSU finally got the equalizer from Pat Bird (Bishop O’Dowd HS; Oakland, CA) on an unassisted shot. The Rams took the lead when Danny Stevens (Suffern HS; Suffern, NY) got free from ‘x’ and tucked one past Moriarty to give the Rams a 6-5 lead heading into the final frame.

The fourth quarter marked even more stout defensive play on both sides of the field until sophomore midfielder Will Cantwell (Lakewood HS; Lakewood, CO) scored the most important goal of his season from Moriarty’s left side. Cantwell dodged his man and bounced home a shot with 3:55 remaining. Just :40 later, Stevens added another goal to give the Rams an 8-5 lead with just over 3:00 remaining. Stevens was spectacular, garnering a game-high five points on three goals and two assists. The Buffs fought hard for the rest of the game, but a goal with less than :01 left in the contest was not enough and the Rams advanced to the RMLC title game.

Excepting Stevens’ five points, the Rams had a balanced scoring output. Bird had an assist to go along with his game-tying goal and five other players registered one point each. The Buffaloes were led by attackman Andrew Upah, who had three goals and midfielder Lemery, who had one goal and two assists. Both goaltenders made 13 saves as Moriarty dueled save for save with CSU junior netminder Tyson Ehinger (Heritage HS; Littleton, CO).

The Rams advance to the RMLC championship game for the tenth consecutive season. Their opponent will be perennial rival and the current #1 team in the country, Brigham Young. The Cougars easily rolled over Utah in the other semifinal.

Lacrosse Box Score (Final)
#6 Univ. of Colorado vs #2 Colorado State Univ. (May 04, 2007 at Colorado Univ.)

Univ. of Colorado (14-5) vs.
Colorado State Univ. (13-2)
Date: May 04, 2007 Attendance: 250
Weather: Cold and Rainy

SCORE BY PERIOD 1 2 3 4 Tot
————————————-
Univ. of Colorado… 3 2 0 1 - 6
Colorado State Univ. 4 0 2 2 - 8

Univ. of Colorado SCORING: GOALS: Upah, Andrew 3; Lemery, Brian 1; Gennuso, Nick
1; Dunford, Cameron 1.
ASSISTS: Lemery, Brian 2; Baruch, Tyler 1; Cadiz, Scott 1; Gennuso, Nick 1.

Colorado State Univ. SCORING: GOALS: Stevens, Danny 3; Bird, Pat 1; Vickery,
Brian 1; MacDonald, Ryan 1; Cantwell, Will 1; Bowman, Dylan 1.
ASSISTS: Stevens, Danny 2; Bird, Pat 1; Schnirel, Adam 1.

GOALTENDER SUMMARY
Univ. of Colorado Minutes GA W/L Saves
————————————————–
13 Moriarty, Kevin….. 60:00 8 13

Colorado State Univ. Minutes GA W/L Saves
————————————————–
18 Ehinger, Tyson…… 60:00 6 13

SHOTS BY PERIOD 1 2 3 4 Tot
————————————-
Univ. of Colorado… 12 9 7 7 - 35
Colorado State Univ. 7 9 5 7 - 28

SAVES BY PERIOD 1 2 3 4 Tot
————————————-
Univ. of Colorado… 1 5 3 4 - 13
Colorado State Univ. 3 6 0 4 - 13

GROUND BALLS BY PRD 1 2 3 4 Tot
————————————-
Univ. of Colorado… 12 9 12 9 - 42
Colorado State Univ. 8 6 9 9 - 32

TURNOVERS BY PRD 1 2 3 4 Tot
————————————-
Univ. of Colorado… 10 7 12 8 - 37
Colorado State Univ. 4 7 6 4 - 21

FACE-OFFS BY PRD 1 2 3 4 Total
—————————————————-
Univ. of Colorado… 7-8 1-2 3-3 1-3 - 12-16
Colorado State Univ. 1-8 1-2 0-3 2-3 - 4-16

CLEARS BY PERIOD 1 2 3 4 Total
—————————————————-
Univ. of Colorado… 2-2 5-7 5-7 4-5 - 16-21
Colorado State Univ. 4-7 7-8 5-6 7-8 - 23-29

EXTRA-MAN OPPS 1 2 3 4 Total
—————————————————-
Univ. of Colorado… 0-2 1-0 0-2 0-1 - 1-5
Colorado State Univ. 0-0 0-1 0-2 0-0 - 0-3

PENALTIES - Univ. of Colorado 3/2:30; Colorado State Univ. 5/4:30.
Officials: Mauney, Brian; Neely, Jason; Ellsworth, David. Scorer: Andy Flax.