SAS LUIS OBISPO, California – The #3 Colorado State University Rams rode a dominant face-off effort and a four-goal run over the third and fourth quarters to a hard-fought win over the #9 Cal Poly Mustangs on Friday night in San Luis Obispo, CA. The Rams were led by senior Scott Gelston’s 14 of 16 effort at the face-off ‘x’ and two goals from three different players in their first MCLA Division I contest of the season.
Trailing 6-3 with four minutes left in the third quarter, senior LSM Mark Moskovics took a Gelston face-off victory down the middle of the field and bounced one home to fuel the four-goal run. “Mark’s goal was such a turning point after we got down 6-3,” said CSU coach Alex Smith. “We’ve been looking for him to make some plays off all the ground balls he gets and that was just a huge moment for us.” With less than a minute left in the quarter, sophomores Braxton Campbell and Austin Fisher tied the game at 6. Fisher’s goal came with one second on the clock and the Rams never trailed again.
The Colorado State face-off game was in high gear throughout, winning a total of 17 of 20 face-offs on the day. Gelston’s seven groundballs led the team and kept the ball on CSU’s offensive side of the field for much of the day. “That’s as good as a face-off guy can play,” said Smith. “We weren’t playing that well offensively early in the game and it made a big difference to have the ball so much to help us get in a rhythm.”
Cal Poly held the advantage early in the game getting solid play from their defenders and pushing transition. The Mustangs scored a huge goal with just 20 seconds left in the half to take a 3-2 lead into the break. They then pumped home three goals in just over three minutes to stake out their 6-3 advantage before the Rams came roaring back. CSU held a one goal lead with under two minutes to go until Fisher bounced home an empty net goal to put the game on ice.
Cal Poly led for much of the contest behind the strong play of attackmen Scott Herberer’s game-high four points on two goals and two assists and midfielder Matt Rudow’s one goal and two assist. The Rams were led by four players who registered two points, including Fisher, senior Cooper Kehoe, sophomore Alex Devlin and senior Garrett Fugier.
“I think our offensive output is something we can improve in general, but it’s hard to be upset with scoring ten goals against a team like Cal Poly,” Smith said. “They are a hard-nosed, well-prepared team and I knew it was going to be a dogfight. It was a great effort by us down the stretch and I was very proud of our effort.”
CSU moves to 3-0 on the season and will have a day off before heading south to Santa Barbara to take on long-time rival UC-Santa Barbara on Sunday. “It will be another battle on Sunday,” said Smith. “We’ve had some great games with them in the past and we’re looking forward to another chapter.”
Lacrosse Box Score (Final)
Colorado State Univ. vs Cal Poly. (Feb 25, 2011 at California Poly.)
Colorado State Univ. (3-0 0-0) vs.
Cal Poly. (2-2 0-0)
Date: Feb 25, 2011
Attendance: 125
SCORE BY PERIOD 1 2 3 4 Tot
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Colorado State Univ. 1 1 4 4 - 10
Cal Poly............ 2 1 3 2 - 8
Colorado State Univ. SCORING: GOALS: Fisher, Austin 2; Fugier, Garrett 2;
Devlin, Alex 2; Kehoe, Cooper 1; Campbell, Braxton 1; Konkel, Greyson 1;
Moskovics, Mark 1.
ASSISTS: Kehoe, Cooper 1.
Cal Poly. SCORING: GOALS: Heberer, Scott 2; Gonsalves, Dylan 2; Rudow, Matt 1; Sack, Brett 1; Chiang, Peter 1; Kovary, Brian 1.
ASSISTS: Heberer, Scott 2; Rudow, Matt 2.
SHOTS BY PERIOD 1 2 3 4 Tot
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Colorado State Univ. 4 8 11 7 - 30
Cal Poly............ 9 6 12 8 - 35
GROUND BALLS BY PRD 1 2 3 4 Tot
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Colorado State Univ. 6 8 7 8 - 29
Cal Poly............ 5 1 5 2 - 13
FACE-OFFS BY PRD 1 2 3 4 Total
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Colorado State Univ. 3-3 3-3 5-7 6-7 - 17-20
Cal Poly............ 0-3 0-3 2-7 1-7 - 3-20
CLEARS BY PERIOD 1 2 3 4 Total
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Colorado State Univ. 5-6 1-2 3-4 4-7 - 13-19
Cal Poly............ 7-7 4-5 2-2 7-9 - 20-23
EXTRA-MAN OPPS 1 2 3 4 Total
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Colorado State Univ. 0-0 0-2 0-1 0-0 - 0-3
Cal Poly............ 0-0 0-0 1-4 0-0 - 1-4
SAVES BY PERIOD 1 2 3 4 Tot
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Colorado State Univ. 4 1 4 2 - 11
Cal Poly............ 1 2 3 2 - 8
TURNOVERS BY PRD 1 2 3 4 Tot
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Colorado State Univ. 7 1 3 5 - 16
Cal Poly............ 4 2 3 4 - 13
PENALTIES - Colorado State Univ. 4/2:00; Cal Poly. 3/2:30.
Officials: Juarez Newson; Shirley Kellerman; Guy Morgante. Scorer: Brandon & Julie.