Bulldogs Lose Opening Round Game to Colorado State

The UMD Bulldogs lost their opening round MCLA Championship Tournament game to Colorado State 10-6.  With the loss, the Bulldogs are eliminated from the MCLA Tournament and will look towards 2012.

Game report from CSU Lacrosse:

CSU Advances with 10-6 Victory over Duluth

Game Reports | 17. May, 2011 by CSU Lacrosse

  

Commerce City, COLO – The 2^nd seeded Colorado State Rams used patient offense and suffocating defense to get past 15^th seed Minnesota-Duluth in the first round of the MCLA national tournament at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park.  CSU led 5-2 at the half and outscored Duluth 5-4 in the final thirty minutes to secure the 10-6 win and advance to the quarterfinals on Wednesday.

Austin Fisher scored 3 goals for the Rams

Duluth took the lead 2-1 early in the 1st Quarter.  After being tied up 2-2 after one quarter of play, the Rams dominated the time of possession in the second quarter, taking 15 shots to UMD’s two and scoring three goals while holding the Bulldogs scoreless.  The Rams were led by attackmen Cooper Kehoe and Austin Fisher, each contributing three points.  Senior Garrett Fugier cashed in on two scoring opportunities as well for the Rams, who defeated UMD for the second straight time after falling to the Bulldogs in 2009.

“This game was just about what I thought it would be,” said CSU head coach Alex Smith.  “They are a very good defensive team and their goalie played great.  We had several looks that would have been goals against most other goalies and the game could have been a little more comfortable.”

Joey Slattery made 10 saves in cage for Duluth while Andy Flax made six for CSU.  The Rams also enjoyed an advantage at the face-off ‘x,’ where they went 12/20 on the afternoon.

Joe Slattery made 10 saves for the Bulldogs

“We did some good things today,” said Smith.  “I thought our six on six offense did its job and I was happy for our man-up unit to break out a little bit.  Our defense held it together really nicely and we just kind of went about our business today.  Tomorrow is going to be a different story against a very talented Boston College team.  We are going to have to be at our best to advance.”

The Rams victory over Duluth is the 11^th time in the last 13 years that CSU has made the quarterfinal round.  Last year, they were bounced by 10^th seeded Simon Fraser and will find themselves in a similar position this year against Boston College, also a #10 seed.

BC advanced to the quarters with an emotional 10-9 win over 7^th seeded Colorado.  CSU defeated Boston College 10-7 in the MCLA first round in 2010.  The two teams have played three times since 2008, with CSU sweeping the series, but all the games were within three goals.  Face-off at Dick’s Park is at 4:00pm MST on Wednesday.

Lacrosse Box Score (Final)
#15 Minn-Duluth vs #2 Colorado State Univ. (May 17, 2011 at Denver, CO)

Date: May 17, 2011  Attendance: 300
Weather: cloudy with rain

SCORE BY PERIOD       1  2  3  4  Tot
————————————-
Minn-Duluth………          2  0  2  2 -  6
Colorado State Univ.    2  3  2  3 – 10

Minn-Duluth SCORING: GOALS: Gaydos, Kevin 3; McNamara, Alex 1; Sanocki, Matthew 1; Moore, Bobby 1.
ASSISTS: Nispel, Brandon 2; McNamara, Alex 1; Sanocki, Matthew 1; Thomas-Olson, Max 1.

Colorado State Univ. SCORING: GOALS: Fisher, Austin 3; Kehoe, Cooper 2; Fugier, Garrett 2; Devlin, Alex 1; Carter, Kacy 1; Campbell, Braxton 1.
ASSISTS: Konkel, Greyson 2; Devlin, Alex 1; Kehoe, Cooper 1; Smith, Sean 1;
Taggart, Tim 1; Warfield, Dan 1.

SAVES BY PERIOD       1  2  3  4  Tot
————————————-
Minn-Duluth………     2  5  2  1 – 10
Colorado State Univ.    2  1  1  2 -  6