Colorado State Survives Scare from UC-San Diego, Pull out 8-7 Win in Overtime

Colorado State at UC-San Diego
Sunday, March 10, 2002
La Jolla, CA
RIMAC

After two extremely physical and hard-fought games, the Colorado State Rams
hoped to rebound from their tough loss to Sonoma with an easy game against
unranked UC-San Diego. The Tritons had other things on their minds,
however, as they led the Rams for much of the game before finally succumbing
in overtime 8-7.

Coach Flip Naumburg looked to give some of the younger players some playing
time in the game after they had watched the starters for the first two days
of the weekend. Sophomore Kevin Krcek got the start in goal and several
other players were making the first starts of their young careers. The
Tritons struck first with a goal from Arjun Maldonado (3g) to take a 1-0 first period lead.

UCSD got two more from Fonz Ikeda (2g, 1a) to take a 3-0 lead on the Rams
before the CSU regulars got back into the game. Tim Farquhar (3g, 1a)
scored the first of his hat trick on a dodge and shot past Denver native
Jake Lowenstein to narrow the gap to 3-1. Ryan Davis (1g) then added one to
make the half-time score 3-2 in favor of the Tritons.

Naumburg continued to use his bench liberally in the second half, but the
Rams could not come up with the tying goal as Lowenstein made several
terrific saves. On the other end of the field, Krcek (14 saves, 7 goals
against) was making waves of his own in the best performance of his career.
The Tritons controlled the ball well during the period while scoring four
goals. Maldonado added two more before Matt Lafiandra (1g) scored with :27
left in the third to give the Tritons a 7-5 lead.

Staring a two goal deficit in the face, CSU would need all they had to get
back in control of the game. Mike Napolilli (1g, 1a) scored his only goal
of an otherwise forgettable performance on a man-up rocket to make it a one
goal game. After a scramble in front of the CSU goal, junior long-stick
middie Nick Tabacchi was taken off the field on a cart with an apparent
broken leg. The Rams used the injury as motivation and finally got the game
tying goal with 8:15 left in the fourth. Medical staff diagnosed Tabacchi
with a deep bone bruise later, relieving any concerns that he would be lost
for the year. Neither team could come up with the winner in the fourth as
both defenses played strong towards the end of the contest.

The Tritons won the overtime’s face-off and controlled the ball in the CSU
end for several moments. But Krcek made the play of the day as he
intercepted a feed from behind and led the break up field. The Tritons got
the ball back and called a timeout to set up a play, but Mark Plonkey
stripped a UCSD player just seconds afterwards to set up another possession
for the Rams. After settling the ball for a bit, Farquhar finally put the
Tritons away with a running left handed ripper into the upper corner to seal
the victory. The Ram bench took a deep sigh of relief knowing they escaped
San Diego with a lucky win against a disciplined and hard working Triton squad.

Despite being man-down eight times in the game, CSU did not allow a goal in
any of those situations.

Colorado State takes a week off before preparing for their huge match-up
with Brigham Young. The new poll will come out the Wednesday before the
game, and both teams could be in different positions come game time. The
game with Brigham Young will be played in CSU’s Hughes Stadium. This marks
the first time that a club sport has ever ventured into the university’s football venue.

Box Score:
Team: 1st Qtr – 2nd Qtr – 3rd Qtr – 4th Qtr – OT: Final
CSU: 0 – 2 – 3 – 2 – 1: 8
UCSD: 1 – 2 – 4 – 0 – 0: 7

Goals:
CSU: Farquhar (3), Everett, Nelson, Davis, Katz and Napolilli
UCSD: Maldonado (3), Ikeda (2), Lafiandra and Smith

Assists:
CSU: Mi. Hamm, Stanitz-Harper, Farquhar and Napolilli
UCSD: Hunter (2), Ikeda