Colorado State Men’s Lacrosse Lands Atop 2004 Preseason Poll
By Alex Smith
December 15, 2003
The Colorado State University men’s lacrosse team will start the 2004 season in the same position they finished 2003, on top of the USL-MDIA poll. The Rams received 29 out of 30 first place votes to finish in front of UC-Santa Barbara for first place in the 2004 preseason rankings as voted by the USL-MDIA voting committee. Sonoma State, Brigham Young, and Michigan round out the top five.
Colorado State is coming off their third national championship during coach Flip Naumburg’s six-year tenure. The Rams had a very successful fall season and are looking to become the first ever repeat national champions at the USL-MDIA level.
The 2004 season brings a lot of promise and challenges to Fort Collins for a relatively young group of Rams. Long stick midfielder Mark Plonkey (Golden High School, Littleton, CO) is the only senior on a team that returns their entire starting attack and defense from their 2003 national championship season. Nick Stanitz-Harper (Eaglecrest High School, Aurora, CO), Phil Eichhorn (Rangeview High School, Aurora, CO) and Plonkey will serve as the team’s captains for the 2004 season.
On the schedule for 2004 are 11 ranked teams, including virtually the entire preseason top 10. The Rams will face #2 UCSB, #3 Sonoma, #4 BYU, #5 Michigan, #6 Texas A&M, #8 Simon Fraser, and #9 Minnesota-Duluth in a very grueling menu of games during the spring season. Throw in #14 Arizona, #20 Washington University of St. Louis, #19 Oregon, and in state rivals #13 Colorado and Colorado College (DIII) and the Rams are faced with one of the most difficult schedules in their history.
The Rams begin their spring season with a trip to Tempe, AZ to play the Arizona State Sundevils and the #14 Arizona Wildcats before their historic contest against Colorado in the Pepsi Center during the 2004 NLL All-Star Game festivities.
The rest of the USL-MDIA Preseason Poll can be viewed at: http://www.uslia.com/polls/preseason.shtml
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