La Jolla, CA – The #2 Colorado State Rams battled back from a 5 goal deficit in the second half against #9 Sonoma State, pulling within one with 13 seconds left on a goal by senior midfielder Ryan MacDonald (Smoky Hill HS; CO).  The Rams promptly won the face-off and MacDonald raced to the goal again, but his shot rang off the pipe and CSU didn’t get another chance, losing a 9-8 in a well-played game on the campus of UC-San Diego Saturday afternoon.  Colorado State also had another goal wiped off the board on a tough in-the-crease call in the fourth quarter as they dropped their first MCLA contest of the season and broke a five-game winning streak.

Sonoma State found themselves on the right end of a 7-3 halftime advantage, using 10 saves from goaltender Warren Pringle and 3 of Cito Williams’ game-high 4 goals to take the lead.  The Seawolves struck first in the second half on a man-up tally to push the score to 8-3 as well.  But from there, CSU outscored Sonoma 5-1, just missing on the equalizer as time expired.

Freshman face-off man Scott Gelston (Air Academy HS; CO) had his best game of the year, winning 13 of 21 draws on the day, including the huge one with 13 seconds to go.  MacDonald’s 2 goals led the Rams, who also got a goal and an assist from junior Joel Tromburg (Heritage HS; CO) and single point efforts from 6 other players on the afternoon.  Williams added an assist to go with his 4 goals for a game-high 5 points.

Colorado State had both more shots and groundballs then Sonoma, but went 0-5 on man-up chances and had a little trouble clearing the ball in the second half.  The Seawolves were efficient with their scoring opportunities, taking only 25 shots, but finishing 9 of them.

Senior goaltender Garrett Fitzgerald (Regis Jesuit; CO) made 6 saves in the first half and then was called back into action late in the third quarter as senior Tyson Ehinger (Heritage HS; CO) was injured on a high-hit by Williams.  Williams served two minutes in the penalty box, but CSU couldn’t manage a goal during the opportunity.  Fitzgerald finished with 9 saves while Pringle had 3 in the second half, making 13 on the day.

Next up for Colorado State (5-2) will be the final game of the road-trip against a fresh #20 Loyola Marymount.  LMU is coming all the way from Los Angeles for this one game against the Rams and have not played a game yet this weekend.  The win by Sonoma marked their first in 7 chances against CSU since the 2002 national championship game.  CSU leads the all-time series 8-4 since their 1999 national semifinal showdown in one of the best inter-conference rivalries in the MCLA.

                           Lacrosse Box Score (Final)
                      The Automated ScoreBook For Lacrosse
   #2 Colorado State Univ. vs #9 Sonoma State (Mar 15, 2008 at San Diego, CA)

Colorado State Univ. (5-2) vs.                    
Sonoma State (5-0)                                
Date: Mar 15, 2008  Attendance: 500               
Weather: Sunny but breezy                         

SCORE BY PERIOD       1  2  3  4  Tot
-------------------------------------
Colorado State Univ.  0  3  2  3 -  8
Sonoma State........  2  5  1  1 -  9

Colorado State Univ. SCORING: GOALS: Macdonald,Ryan 2; Tromburg,Joel 1;
Kehoe,Cooper 1; Larson,Paul 1; Wolff,Kevin 1; Wallace,Ben 1; Miller,Luke 1.
ASSISTS: Backstrom,Justin 1; Rosa,Kyle 1; Tromburg,Joel 1.

Sonoma State SCORING: GOALS: Williams, Andres 4; Sylva, Marcus 2; Ferrette,
Andrew 1; Keebler, Phil 1; Wood, Casey 1.
ASSISTS: Kuhns, Clatin 1; Williams, Andres 1; Williams, Kenneth 1.

GOALTENDER SUMMARY
Colorado State Univ.      Minutes   GA   W/L Saves
--------------------------------------------------
8  Fitzgerald,Garrett..     47:39    8    L      9
1  Ehinger,Tyson.......     12:21    1           2

GOALTENDER SUMMARY
Sonoma State              Minutes   GA   W/L Saves
--------------------------------------------------
10 Pringle, Warren.....     60:00    8    W     13

SHOTS BY PERIOD       1  2  3  4  Tot
-------------------------------------
Colorado State Univ. 11  8  8  9 - 36
Sonoma State........  5 10  5  5 - 25

GROUND BALLS BY PRD   1  2  3  4  Tot
-------------------------------------
Colorado State Univ.  8  6 10 11 - 35
Sonoma State........  6  7  6  6 - 25

FACE-OFFS BY PRD       1     2     3     4     Total
----------------------------------------------------
Colorado State Univ.  2-3   5-9   2-4   4-5  - 13-21
Sonoma State........  1-3   4-9   2-4   1-5  -  8-21

CLEARS BY PERIOD       1     2     3     4     Total
----------------------------------------------------
Colorado State Univ.  6-7   2-6   5-9   5-9  - 18-31
Sonoma State........  6-9   7-10  6-6   5-5  - 24-30

EXTRA-MAN OPPS         1     2     3     4     Total
----------------------------------------------------
Colorado State Univ.  0-0   0-3   0-2   0-0  -  0-5
Sonoma State........  0-0   0-0   1-2   0-0  -  1-2

SAVES BY PERIOD       1  2  3  4  Tot
-------------------------------------
Colorado State Univ.  1  5  2  3 - 11
Sonoma State........  7  3  2  1 - 13

TURNOVERS BY PRD      1  2  3  4  Tot
-------------------------------------
Colorado State Univ.  2  8  3  5 - 18
Sonoma State........  5  4  6  4 - 19

PENALTIES - Colorado State Univ. 2/1:30; Sonoma State 5/4:30.
Officials: Sanchez; Benwit; Mingione. Scorer: Melissa and Tiana.