#1 Colorado State Easily Handles #5 Stanford 13-7

Colorado State vs. Stanford
Friday, March 8, 2002
La Jolla, CA
RIMAC

In a rematch of last year’s USLIA national championship game, the Colorado
State Rams jumped all over the Stanford Cardinal en route to a 13-7 victory
at UC-San Diego’s RIMAC stadium. Four different Rams scored three points in
a workmanlike effort as the Cardinal were never really in the game. Despite
12 CSU penalties, including one six on three opportunity, the Cardinal could
never penetrate the tough Ram defense on the night.

With sophomore Nick Stanitz-Harper seeing only limited playing time because
of a burn injury, sophomores Kelten Johnson (2 goals) and Bo Everett were
forced into extended time against what some regard as the best defense in
the country. Johnson scored early for the Rams on a feed from senior Jim
Hasson (1g, 1a) with 11:03 left in the first. Senior Doug Priebe (1g, 1a)
added another six minutes later to put the Rams up by two before the
Cardinal scored on a dodge from behind by A. Wolf (2g). That was one of
only two goals Stanford could muster in the first half as the CSU defense
held the fort well. Stanitz-Harper (2g, 1a) scored on a man-up with 3:42
left to push the Ram lead to 3-1.

The second quarter started with a bang as senior Mike Napolilli (1g, 2a)
scored on a feed from sophomore defenseman Mark Plonkey. Plonkey (1g, 1a)
scored a goal of his own just two minutes later and CSU would begin to build
its cushion. Two goals by freshman midfielder Tim Farquhar (2g, 1a)
sandwiched around a Brooks Kinkaid tally made the halftime score 7-2 in favor of the Rams.

The Cardinal came out fired up in the third quarter as Kiel Renich got one
just :17 seconds into the period. Stanford scored twice more in the period
and only allowed one from Colorado State. The Rams were called for five
penalties in the third, including three on one play late in the quarter.
But the Stanford man-up was only able to capitalize once out of ten times
and despite being down by just three at the end of the third, the Cardinal
could never quite get over the hump.

In the fourth, the Rams finally put the pesky Cardinal away with five goals.
Senior Ryan Davis (3g) tried to make up for his four penalty night with
two goals in the period as the Cardinal defense began to wear down. The
Rams led 13-5 with just under twenty seconds left before Stanford got goals
from Gardener (1g) and Wolf to close out the contest. All-USLIA midfielder
Pete Munzig (1a) was shut down by a solid effort from the CSU midfield and
junior goaltender Alex Smith (16 saves, 7 goals against). Munzig fired away
mercilessly on the CSU net, but was never able to put one past Smith on the evening.

Box Score:
Team: 1st Qtr – 2nd Qtr – 3rd Qtr – 4th Qtr – OT: Final
CSU 3 - 4 - 1 - 5: 13
Stan 1 - 1 - 3 - 2: 7

Goals:
CSU: Davis (3), Stanitz-Harper, Johnson and Farquhar (2), Napolilli, D.Priebe, Hasson and Plonkey
Stan: Kinkaid and Wolf (2), Horowitz, Gardener and Renich

Assists:
CSU: Napolilli (2), Stanitz-Harper, Katz, D. Priebe, K. Nelson, Hasson, Mi.
Hamm, Farquhar and Plonkey,Stan: Munzig and Wiess

Goaltenders:
CSU: A. Smith (60:00 minutes, 16 saves, 7 goals against)
Stan: Sun (60:00 min, 9 saves, 13 goals against)

Penalties:
CSU: 12/9:30
Stan: 4/4:00

Man Up:
CSU: 3/4
Stan: 1/10