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#2 Colorado State Comes Back Against #7 Colorado to Take Tough 8-7 Win
Highlands Ranch, CO
By Alex Smith
April 17, 2004
On a wind swept day on the Front Range of the Rockies,
two of the state’s biggest rivals got together for an evening of lacrosse
that will surely be remembered for a long time. In a game that never saw a
lead of more than two goals for either team, the #2 Colorado State Rams came
back from a 4-2 halftime deficit to beat the #7 Colorado Buffaloes 8-7 in
front of over 2000 people at Shea Stadium in south Denver. The game was
billed as the Rocky Mountain Showdown, and the paid attendance was not
disappointed as both teams put on a great show from start to finish.
While the Buffaloes came out fired up and ready to play in the early going,
the Rams seemed flat and on their heels. CU’s Tim Leonard started the
scoring when he ripped a shot from the right side of the goal past Colorado
State’s Pete Jokisch. Jokisch (Rockhurst Jesuit, MO) was playing with an
injured thumb, but showed no ill effects in the first quarter when he made
four saves to keep the Rams in the game. Zach Lynd scored another for the
Buffs with under a minute to play in the period to give the boys in black a
2-0 lead after one period.
In much of the first half, CU made sure to value their possessions and not
take any chances with the ball. Meanwhile, the Rams were so busy firing
cross-field passes and forcing things that they never got a good possession.
Colorado State caught a break midway through the second when defenseman
Ryan Price (Arapahoe HS, CO) scooped up a groundball and led the charge on a
fast break. With the other attackmen covered, Price fed the ball to Danny
Stevens (Suffern HS, NY), who was waiting on the doorstep. Unfortunately
for Stevens, so was Colorado goaltender Chris Bluse. Bluse hammered Stevens
just as he was catching the ball, but the momentum of the play sent the ball
into the net. Until that goal, the Rams had been held scoreless for over
twenty minutes of game time. CU got an answer a little over a minute later
to push the lead back to two when Andrew Upah blasted one home past Jokisch.
Then, with just under six minutes in the half, Nick Stanitz-Harper
(Eaglecrest HS, CO) took advantage of a short stick match-up after releasing
a penalty and bounced a shot past Bluse to make the score 3-2. The
Buffaloes were not done yet in the first half, however, and Jeremy Kellogg
got the Buffs up two again with about a minute left in the period. Kellogg
led all CU players with two points on the evening.
Despite giving up four goals in the first half, Jokisch was outstanding in
cage for the Rams. Making his first start since the Santa Barbara game on
April 4th, Jokisch made nine saves in cage, seven in the first half. CU was
clearly the more emotional team in the first half, and they used that edge
to gain their lead. The Buffs took 18 first half shots to the Rams’ 13 and
generally outhustled CSU throughout. One first half bright spot for the
Rams was face-off man Dave Clark (Cherry Creek HS, CO). Clark battled
throughout the night with CU’s star face-off man Michael Gerhard and came
away with 12 wins on 18 attempts. Clark’s effort gave the Rams valuable
possessions, a fact that was particularly helpful considering CSU’s poor
clearing game in the first half.
At the start of the third quarter, it was clear that the Rams were finally
ready to play. After a relatively poor showing in the first half, the Rams
came out fired up and scored the first two of the second. Tim Farquhar
(Collegiate HS, VA) scored on an unsettled situation man-down when he dodged
his defender and ripped one past Bluse. Then, a few minutes later, Pat Bird
(Bishop O’Dowd HS, CA) got on track with his first of the night. Bird was
all over the field, playing tough defense and clearing the ball to the
offense time after time. His best was yet to come.
CSU goaltender Pete Joksich appeared to reinjure his thumb midway through
the third period and gave way to freshman Kurt Bisnette (Hinsdale Central
HS, IL) for the remainder of the quarter. Bisnette came up clutch for the
Rams when he made an incredible kick save just moments after he got into the
game and then steered another CU shot into the corner on the next
possession. Bisnette finished with those two saves and one goal against in
a gutsy effort coming off the bench.
After CU’s Jason Anderson scored a man-up goal with 1:01 left in the third
quarter, Kelten Johnson (Bainbridge HS, WA) came away with a huge goal with
under fifteen seconds left to tie. Johnson and Anderson came into the game
as their team’s high scorers, but were held in check by their respective
defenders. Anderson only scored one goal, while Johnson registered an
assist to go along with his big third quarter tally. The game headed to the
fourth quarter tied at 5 and was anybody’s game.
Brian Morgan gave the Buffaloes their third lead of the game when he ripped
a bouncer past Jokisch forty-five seconds into the final frame. But the
Buffs took a penalty on the ensuing face-off that would set up the most
crucial point of the contest.
After the Rams wasted their initial try on the man-up by throwing a pass out
of bounds, the Buffaloes called on their star goalkeeper to clear the ball
to the offense. The ball ended up on the ground thanks to a tough CSU ride
and CSU long stick midfielder Mark Plonkey (Golden HS, CO) met his former
high school teammate Chris Bluse just outside of the CU defensive zone. The
two star players did not give any quarter to each other and met in a vicious
collision that left the ball still rolling in the CU defensive half.
Plonkey worked his way around the pile and picked up the ball with only two
defenders standing between him and a tie game. After dodging the first long
stick, Plonkey found himself on the doorstep of the crease, which was
guarded by the second Buffalo defender. The senior from nearby Littleton,
CO did not waste his opportunity and buried a shot to give the Rams an
emotional goal that tied the game at 6.
Bluse was excellent in the second half, making 11 saves in the final two
quarters, but his miscue on this clear would be costly to the Buffs. The
collision at midfield left Bluse bloody and the senior goalkeeper missed
several minutes to get bandaged back up.
Plonkey and freshman defenseman Adam Schnirel (Mount Lebanon HS, PA) were
instrumental in keeping the Rams close, but the rest of the game belonged to
Pat Bird, who was about to score the two biggest goals of his young career.
With a little over ten minutes left, Bird cleared the ball from the
defensive half and found himself face to face with a Colorado short stick.
The freshman from California danced through the middle of the CU defense and
found a hole on the off-hip of Bluse to give the Rams their first lead of
the day. Then, just as a man-up was expiring, Bird stared down Bluse from
18 yards and blasted a shot high to give the Rams a two-goal cushion.
Brandon Bailey scored the last goal of the game with five minutes left, but
the Rams were able to hang on and get a very tough 8-7 win against the
Buffaloes. Bluse finished the game with 14 saves and left little doubt that
his First Team All-American selection in 2003 was not a fluke. For his
efforts, he was named Colorado’s player of the game by the event organizers.
Even with Bird’s heroics at the end of the game, Colorado State’s player
of the game was given to another freshman. Adam Schnirel was stellar at
defense, making several key stops and slides in addition to four groundballs
and received the honor for the Rams.
The game culminated the RMLC season for the Rams. Colorado State (18-1
overall; 4-0 RMLC) claims the top spot in the RMLC playoffs in two weeks
while Colorado (11-3; 3-1) will have the second seed pending their game
against Utah State on Sunday. BYU, Utah and Utah State will wage battle for
the remaining two spots. BYU is already in, but a loss to Utah on the last
day of the season will put them in fourth position. Utah and Utah State
meet on Wednesday to determine the likely fourth seed in the playoffs. CSU
will host Lindenwood (MO) next Saturday in their last home game of the year
and last test before the RMLC and USL MDIA playoffs.
Game Notes:
- The game’s attendance was 2,015, the largest this season to see either
team since they met in the Pepsi Center in February. The crowd was
bi-partisan and both teams had a significant fan base.
- The Rocky Mountain Showdown was put on by the Colorado State Lacrosse
Alumni Association, and the event went off without a hitch.
- 2004 marks the first time in over ten years that Colorado and Colorado
State have not met on the home team’s campus.
- The windy conditions made things difficult, but both teams also had to
battle the field conditions, which made groundballs and bounce shots a crap
shoot every time the ball touched the ground.
- In the past four meetings, no game in the series has been won by more than
two goals. In 2002, the Rams won 9-8 in the RMILL semifinals. In 2003, CSU
won a 12-11 overtime decision in Fort Collins and then a 7-5 win in Boulder
late in the season.
- Both teams used a backup goaltender for a critical portion of the game.
Joksich took time off in the third and Bluse in the fourth.
Score By Quarter:
CSU: 0 – 2 – 3 – 3 = 8
CU: 2 – 2 – 1 – 2 = 7
Goals:
CSU: Bird (3), Johnson, Stanitz-Harper, Farquhar, Plonkey and Stevens (1)
CU: Anderson, Upah, Bailey, Morgan, Leonard, Kellogg and Lynd (1)
Assists:
CSU: Johnson and Price (1)
CU: Bok and Kellogg (2)
Goaltenders:
CSU: Jokisch (52:30 minutes, 9 saves, 6 goals against), Bisnette (7:30
minutes, 2 saves, 1 goal against)
CU: Bluse (58:00 minutes, 14 saves, 8 goals against), Kassaii (2:00
minutes, 1 saves, 0 goals against)
Shots:
CSU: 37
CU: 30
Groundballs:
CSU: 29
CU: 23
Face-Offs:
CSU: 12/19
CU: 7/19
Penalties:
CSU: 7 for 5:00
CU: 5 for 4:30
Extra-Man:
CSU: 1/5
CU: 1/7
Attendance: 2015 |
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