St. Charles, MO – The #4 Colorado State Rams let loose their most complete offensive effort of the season against the top ranked Michigan Wolverines, running out to a 6-1 lead in the first quarter on a bone-chillingly cold Saturday afternoon on the campus of Lindenwood University. The Rams seemingly scored in every way possible in the first half, leading 6-2 after one quarter and 11-5 at the half on their way to a comfortable 17-10 victory over the #1 Wolverines. Three Rams had more than four points and Colorado State enjoyed some surprise success in the face-off department in the decisive win.

CSU started the scoring early in the decisive first period when sophomore midfielder Stephen Lundberg (Cherry Creek HS; Englewood, CO) scored a beautiful running bouncer to the top part of the net just 2:21 into the game. While Michigan answered right back, the Rams scored five goals in less than five minutes to open up a 6-1 lead. Included in the scoring was a soccer-style kick in by junior Ryan MacDonald (Smoky Hill HS; Aurora, CO), who had a career day with four goals and one assist. All of MacDonald’s goals were in the first half and surpassed his previous season-high of three tallies.

After Michigan tightened the score to 6-3 five minutes into the second quarter, CSU went on another spree, denting the net three times in just over a minute to get the lead back to 9-3. CSU’s face-off crew of Lee Cates (Rangeview HS; Aurora, CO) and Joel Tromburg (Heritage HS; Littleton, CO) was stellar in the first half and helped the Rams to some much needed possession time against the patient Wolverines.

CSU’s offensive execution chased off Michigan starting goaltender Ryan Kaufman after one half of play. Kaufman surrendered 11 goals and made 8 saves in the first thirty minutes before giving way to Graham Townsend. The big lefty had some key stops in the third quarter as the Wolverines tried to stage a comeback, but it just wasn’t enough as CSU continued to pepper Michigan’s goal. CSU goaltender Tyson Ehinger (Heritage HS; Littleton, CO) made just five saves through the first three quarters, but buckled down in the fourth, making five more stops to clinch the victory.

Michigan outscored CSU 2-1 in the third quarter to make it a four goal game at the start of the fourth, but the Rams owned the final frame, scoring five goals to remove all doubt.

The Rams got big outputs from senior attackmen Danny Stevens (Suffern HS; Suffern, NY) and Brian Stone (Air Academy HS; Colorado Springs, CO). Stevens had two goals and four assists to lead all scorers while Stone banged home four goals of his own. Michigan was led by attackmen Jared Blechman and Stevens’ former high school teammate Evan Fox. Blechman had two goals and two assists while Fox pitched in with three goals for the Maize and Blue.

Colorado State (10-2 overall; 2-1 RMLC) takes on #15 Lindenwood in the capper to the weekend Sunday afternoon. The win over Michigan marks CSU’s 6th in 7 tries in the history of the Ram/Wolverine rivalry. It was also the third straight game the Rams have scored 17 goals, including back to back 17-4 wins last week at home against UCSB and UCSD. Michigan falls to 9-2 after their loss one week ago to Arizona State.

Game Stats – TBA