Ann Arbor, MI- The University of Michigan Wolverines demonstrated why they are the first ranked team and defending champs as they defeated the Colorado State Rams by a final score of 16-3. The outcome of the game was a result of Michigan playing outstanding lacrosse and Colorado State not playing up to their potential.<!--more--> “I thought we were thoroughly outplayed,” reflected Colorado State coach Flip Naumburg. Colorado State is not a bad team, to say the least, but “varsity club” teams, such as Michigan, are at a whole other level. “They have bigger, faster, more disciplined players with good schemes as well,” noted Naumburg in his blog. That is no excuse for the Rams performance in the game against Michigan, however; they made a lot of forced and unforced errors, and against a team like Michigan that is guaranteed to cost them the victory. Although the Colorado State defense held strong early in the game and at other moments throughout, Michigan controlled the tempo from early on. They maintained possession for most of the game, and it was evident with 51 shots compared to a mere 19 for Colorado State. The Rams rarely had the ball in Wolverines’ territory, and when they did Michigan took back control of the ball shortly thereafter. Michigan had a 10-man ride that was very effective, and forced a lot of turnovers they capitalized on. Whenever Colorado State was making a clearing attempt, Michigan would swarm to the ball and make it nearly impossible for the Rams to get the ball away to another player successfully. As Naumburg said, “we (Colorado State) were careless with the ball.” They succumbed to the pressure the Wolverines were putting on them and forced errant passes whenever they had possession. Michigan’s offensive attack was led by Trevor Yealy, with 4 goals on the game. After an 11- or 12-goal performance the previous night against the 5th ranked Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs, the Rams kept him relatively in-check by giving up only four goals. He, along with the rest of the Wolverine squad, was able to score too easily, which is something the Rams will have to work on defensively against Minnesota-Duluth on Sunday. They will also need to maintain possession and limit the turnovers if they want to go back to Colorado with a 1-1 trip to Michigan.
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