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April 12, 2003
Site:
Fort Collins, Colorado (Rocky Mountain High School)
Scores:
#4 Michigan 6, #3 Colorado State 11
Records: UM (11-4), CU (10-2)
Next
U-M Game: Wednesday, April 16 -- vs. Michigan State, Birmingham, MI,
7:30 p.m. EST
Balanced Colorado State
Too Much For Michigan
Fort Collins, Col. --
Michigan and Colorado State have both been hard by injuries this season,
but the Rams seemed to have been able to fill the gaps a little better
than the Wolverines in today's 11-6 loss. CSU dominated through
the first three quarters, building a lead the Wolverines could not
overcome, despite a stronger fourth quarter.
Trailing 9-2 going into the fourth, Michigan scored the first two on
goals from Ben Herbst (Pikesville, MD/Pikesville) and
Jeff Hanna (Fayatteville, NY/Fayatteville-Manlius) to start
an apparent late run. But Colorado State's Kelton Johnson, who had
3 goals on the day, answered at 8:11 to make it 10-4 and steal any
momentum the Wolverines had found. Hanna scored an extra-man goal
11 seconds later to narrow the gap to 5, but less than a minute after
that CSU All-American longstick midfiedler Mark Plonkey intercepted a
pass on his own crease, ran the length of the field and dodged two
Wolverines and scored to effectively ice the game. Michigan
managed one more score to bring it back to a 5-goal margin with just
over 2 minutes to play, but could not get any closer.
The Rams jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first 3 minutes on a pair of
lay-ups that resulted from good ball movement after Michigan slides.
Herbst answered when he created his own shot at 5:43, but despite
outshooting Colorado State 13-5 in the quarter, the Wolverines found
themselves trailing 2-1 at the end of the quarter. Colorado State
goalie Alex Smith was part of the problem, as he turned away 6 Michigan
shots in the quarter and 18 on the day.
Michigan outshot the Rams 10-4 in the second, but once again Smith was
up to the task, turning away six more shots and shutting out the
Wolverines in the stanza. Michigan's second-leading scorer,
Chip Thomas (Tenefly, NJ/Dwight-Englewood), was stoned by
Smith midway through the quarter on a point-blank shot on a play that
typified the day the Wolverines were having. Thomas was held
scoreless for the first time this season. Meanwhile, the Rams
managed two more goals of their own to carry a 4-1 lead into halftime.
Needing an early run to swing momentum in their favor, Michigan came
into the third quarter with renewed energy, but a pair of early CSU
goals deflated the Wolverine bench before they could anything started.
The Rams held a dominant 7-1 lead before Jason Gratson (Clinton
Twp., Mich./DeLaSalle) finally put Michigan back on the board with
only their second goal of the day with 5:50 to play in the third
quarter. Colorado State answered with two more late in the
quarter, however, to take a commanding 9-2 lead into the final stanza.
Michigan's shooters got off 10 shots in the quarter, but could only
manage to put 3 of those on-goal to challenge Smith and the Rams.
The Wolverines have to
regroup quickly as they are set to face Michigan State this Wednesday at
7:30 p.m. at Birmingham Seaholm High School in Birmingham, Michigan.
NOTES
●
Mistakes and poor execution cost the Wolverines today. Michigan
had it's worst day of the season clearing the ball, converting on only
16 of 24 attempts. In a story that is becoming all too familiar
this season, Michigan once again outshot an opponent, this time by a
commanding 46-26 margin, but could not find the goal with any
regularity.
●
The game, billed by Colorado State as the "Face-Off at the Fort," was
played at Rocky Mountain High School, just off the CSU campus.
Cool weather and the threat of the rain (which never fell) kept the
anticipated crowd down, but more than 1,000 fans did show up.
●
Michigan lost the ground ball battle for the only the second time this
season. Colorado State collected 28 loose balls, to 25 for the
Wolverines.
●
Several Michigan lacrosse alumni who live in Colorado were at the game
including Michigan's all-time leading scorer Jeff Hadwin and head coach
John Paul's former Michigan teammate and roommate, Tim Reilly.
QUOTES
UM Head Coach John Paul
On the
game overall: "Colorado State is an emotional team. You can't
let them get rolling, and today that's what we did. Our defense
did not play up the level we have been recently, and on the offensive
end we had so many chances to end their runs or go on runs of our own,
but we could not find the net."
On
Michigan's recent scoring problems: "We are not shooting well.
We're creating good shots, but so often we end up missing the cage or
hitting the goalie. (Alex) Smith had a great game today.
He's the best goalie we've seen this year, but with 46 shots we'd
certainly like to be able to manage more than 6 goals. It's
something we've worked a lot on this year as a point of emphasis, so I'm
honestly a little mystified as to why we're still struggling with it."
GAME SUMMARY
Michigan vs. Colorado State
Saturday, April 12
6:30 p.m. MST, Rocky Mountain High School, Fort Collins, Colorado
Score by Quarter
1 2 3 4 OT Totals
Michigan …………
1 0 1
4
6
Colorado State... ...
2 2 5
2
11
Michigan Scoring
Ben Herbst 2G/0A - 2 Pts.
Jeff Hanna 2G/0A - 2 Pts.
Sloan Buchan-McGilliard 0G/2A
- 2 Pts.
Ray Lombardi 1G/1A - 2 Pts.
Jason Gratson 1G/0A - 1 Pt.
Colorado
State
Scoring
Kelten Johnson 3G/1A - 4 Pts.
Matt Disney 2G/1A - 3 Pts.
Jared Katz 0G/3A - 3 Pts.
Derek Koll 2G/0A - 2 Pts.
Thomas Robinson 2G/0A - 2
Pts.
John Naab 1G/1A - 2 Pts.
Jim Hasson 0g/2A - 2 Pts.
Mark Plonkey 1G/0A - 1 Pt.
Goalies
Michigan: Dan Webber – 4 saves / 11 goals against (60:00)
Colorado State: Alex Smith - 18 saves /
6 goals against (60:00)
Team Statistics
1 2 3 4 OT Totals
Ground Balls
Michigan
6 5
5 9
25
Colorado State
3 7 7
11
28
Shots
Michigan
13 10 10
13
46
Colorado State
5 4 9
8
26
Face-offs
Michigan
3
0
3 5
11
Colorado State
1 3 5
1
10
Clears
Michigan
5/7 5/7 4/5
3/7
16/24
Colorado State
5/7 5/9 5/6 8/11 23/30
Extra Man
Michigan
- 0/1
- 1/1
1/3
Colorado State
- 0/1
- -
0/3
Scoring Summary
12:41 (1st)….CSU….Robinson
(Disney)….UM
0, CSU 1
11:54 (1st)….CSU….Johnson
(Hasson)….UM
0, CSU 2
5:43 (1st)….UM….Herbst….UM
1, CSU 2
End of 1st
Quarter: Michigan 1, Colorado State 2
8:36 (2nd)….CSU….Johnson
(Katz)….UM 1, CSU 3
5:34 (2nd)….CSU….Disney
(Katz)….UM 1, CSU 4
Halftime: Michigan 1,
Colorado State 4
13:55 (3rd)….CSU….Koll….UM
1, CSU 5
13:37 (3rd)….CSU….Naab….UM
1, CSU 6
8:35 (3rd)….CSU….Robinson
(Hasson)….UM 1, CSU 7
5:50 (3rd)….UM….Gratson
(Buchan-McGilliard)….UM 2, CSU 7
2:04 (3rd)….CSU….Disney
(Johnson)….UM 2, CSU 8
0:42 (3rd)….CSU….Koll
(Naab)….UM 2, CSU 9
End of 3rd
Quarter: Michigan 2, Colorado State 9
11:57 (4th)….UM….Herbst….UM
3, CSU 9
8:55 (4th)….UM….Hanna
(Lombardi)….UM
4, CSU 9
8:11 (4th)….CSU….Johnson
(Katz)….UM
4, CSU 10
8:00 (4th)….UM (EMO)….Hanna
(Buchan-McGilliard)….UM
5, CSU 10
7:11 (4th)….CSU….Plonkey….UM
5, CSU 11
2:31 (4th)….UM….Lombardi….UM
6, CSU 11
End of Regulation:
Michigan 6, Colorado State 11
Attendance
1327
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