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Colorado State Trails Early, Overcomes #5 Michigan 11-4
Ann Arbor, MI
By Alex Smith
April 2, 2004
Colorado State has been a part of every Michigan Invitational in the each of
its last three versions. In 2001, the Rams beat Texas, Sonoma State, and
Michigan. In 2002, Michigan got the better of Colorado State while the Rams
beat Buffalo and Texas A&M. This year, the Rams started off their 2004
Michigan Invitational with a hard-fought 11-4 win over the host Wolverines.
Nick Stanitz-Harper (Eaglecrest HS, CO) scored four goals, including two
buzzer beaters, to help the Rams emerge from an early 3-0 deficit an win
going away in the Oosterbaan Fieldhouse.
The 5th ranked Wolverines came out firing in the first quarter. Michigan’s
Bobby Groenke scored two goals to start the evening right for the home
squad. Groenke dodged from the top and beat the Ram midfielders on
consecutive plays to give his team a 2-0 first quarter lead. While the
Wolverines were being patient with possessions and getting good looks at the
net, the Rams were struggling to get anything going against a stingy
Michigan defense that gave the CSU attackmen fits for most of the first
half.
Michigan took a 3-0 lead just twenty seconds into the second quarter when
Anthony Ragnone blasted home a pass from Ray Lombardi off a good cut from
the top of the box. The Wolverines were playing with emotion while the Rams
seemed flat. Michigan won the groundball war in the first half 23-19, and
their extra possessions were the difference early. Once Stanitz-Harper got
his first goal with 5:37 left in the half, the CSU offense began to flex its
muscles. Derek Koll (Fort Collins HS, CO) scored thirty seconds later to
get the Rams within one as the momentum began to shift to the visiting
team’s sidelines.
Just as the half was about to expire, CSU’s Mark Plonkey (Golden HS, CO)
fired a 75 yard pass into the stick of a wide-open Stanitz-Harper with under
five seconds remaining. Stanitz-Harper turned and buried a shot from five
yards away to tie the score at 3 going into the half. The goal proved to be
instrumental for Colorado State in regaining the tempo of the game going
into the halftime break.
While Plonkey did play well in the three final quarters, the Wolverine
longpoles were a factor in the game from the start. Dave Silverman and
Brian Anderson scooped up 8 and 9 groundballs respectively to lead the game.
Silverman was the first long stick midfielder to out-groundball Plonkey on
the season. Michigan goalie Dan Webber had a very good game, stopping 12
CSU shots, 6 in the second quarter. Webber was extremely improved from his
tough showing in Fort Collins last season.
The third quarter started off just as the game did with the Wolverines
getting an early goal to take the lead. Jeff Hanna caught a feed from
behind and ripped a laser to the upper part of the net to beat Pete Jokisch
(Rockhurst Jesuit, KS). After that goal with 13:28 remaining in the third,
the Colorado State defense would not surrender another goal for the rest of
the game. CSU rattled off four consecutive goals to end the quarter up 7-4.
With the Rams up 5-4, Tim Farquhar (Collegiate HS, VA) dodged from the top
of the box and fed Thomas Robinson (Memphis University School, TN). From
ten yards out, Robinson moved the ball on to Matt Johns (Arapahoe HS, CO)
who had an easy dunk to get the Rams up by two. It was the prettiest goal
in an eight goal run that slowly put the Wolverines away. To punctuate
their explosive third quarter, Michael Murphy (Lake Oswego HS, OR) found
Stanitz-Harper on the doorstep again. Stanitz-Harper registered his hat
trick with under :01 left to give the Rams a commanding 7-4 lead after
three.
Colorado State continued to control the ball in the fourth quarter and got
four more goals to close out the contest. Even though Michigan outshot the
Rams, Colorado State began to make better decisions with the ball as the
game wore on. Jokisch had another great game, posting 17 saves in a winning
effort. After the Wolverines’ initial three goal outburst, the CSU defense
held Michigan to one goal in the last 45:19 to secure the win.
Dave Clark (Cherry Creek HS, CO) rebounded from a tough game against the
University of Utah last Saturday and won 9 of the 16 face-offs he took on
the day. Clark had a large amount of success against Michigan’s talented
face-off man of Trevor Broad.
The game was well-officiated and neither team spent much time in the penalty
box. CSU was flagged for only two penalties for 1:00 on the night.
Colorado State will take on the #12 Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs on Saturday
before closing out their trip with a game against the #2 UC-Santa Barbara
Gauchos. The Gauchos looked impressive in their 15-8 victory over the
Bulldogs just after the CSU/Michigan game. CSU has never played the
Bulldogs in MDIA play.
Game Notes:
- The win moves CSU to 4-1 in series history against Michigan. The
Wolverines won the 2002 contest to start that year’s Invitational
- Eleven players registered points for the Rams in the win
- The four goals against is tied for a season low in points against top 10
teams. Arizona notched four in a 9-4 loss early in the season
- Despite the Wolverines’ hustle in the first half, Colorado State won the
groundball game 44-40
- Michigan’s Justin Gal ripped 12 shots in the game, but was unable to notch
a point
- Jokisch’s solid game moved his save percentage to 75.8% on the season
Score by Quarter:
CSU: 0 – 3 – 4 – 4 =11
UM: 2 – 1 – 1 – 0 = 4
Goals:
CSU: Stanitz-Harper (4), Disney (2), Robinson, Koll, Farquhar, Chorey,
Johns (1)
UM: Groenke (2), Hanna, Ragnone (1)
Assists:
CSU: Johnson, Eichhorn, Koll, Murphy, Plonkey, Robinson (1)
UM: Lombardi (2)
Goaltenders:
CSU: Jokisch (60:00 minutes, 17 saves, 4 goals against)
UM: Webber (60:00 minutes, 12 saves, 11 goals against)
Face-Offs:
CSU: 10/17
UM: 7/17
Shots:
CSU: 36
UM: 41
Ground Balls:
CSU: 44
UM: 40
Extra Man:
CSU: 1/4
UM: 0/2
Penalties:
CSU: 2 for 1:00
UM: 4 for 2:30
Attendance: 1017 |
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