#1 Colorado State Bounces Back against #4 Sonoma 17-7

#1 Colorado State Bounces Back against #4 Sonoma 17-7

Eugene, OR – After their worst loss in nearly a decade on Friday night, the #1 Colorado State Rams bounced back in a big way against the #4 Sonoma State Seawolves, turning a 10-7 lead after three quarters into a 17-7 victory. While rain had plagued most of the weekend, Sunday afternoon’s game at the University of Oregon was played under relatively pleasant conditions and even featured a glimpse or two of the sun.

While Friday night against Oregon saw the Rams lose the possession battle at the face-off ‘x’ and in the clearing game, Colorado State reversed those trends on Sunday, winning 20 of 27 face-offs and successfully clearing the ball 14 of 17 times. CSU outshot the Seawolves by an alarming 54-15 margin and recorded 30 more groundballs as well.

Senior captains Dan Stevens (Suffern HS; Suffern, NY) and Pat Bird (Bishop O’Dowd HS; Oakland, CA) led the way for the Rams. Stevens had eight points on three goals and five assists while Bird supplemented his 4g, 1a with 12/14 face-off wins and five groundballs. CSU’s other two captains, Lee Cates (Rangeview HS; Aurora, CO) and Adam Schnirel (Mt. Lebanon HS; Pittsburgh, PA) were stellar as well in the middle of the field. Cates won 4 of 6 face-offs while Schnirel had 6 groundballs after switching to long-stick midfield for much of the contest.

Sophomore Jay Matlin (Boulder HS; Boulder, CO) had a very nice day shadowing Sonoma’s dangerous Andres Williams, holding the shift attackman to just one assist.

CSU never trailed in the game after jumping out to a 5-2 first quarter advantage. Sonoma tightened the score to 5-4, but the Rams reeled off three goals in a row to make the halftime score 8-4. Colorado State led by 3 at the end of the third before the decisive seven-goal fourth quarter put the game out of reach.

The Rams started sophomore Lance Simmons (Thunder Ridge HS; Highlands Ranch, CO) and went to junior Tyson Ehinger (Heritage HS; Littleton, CO) in the second half. Each goalie only made one save, but the team defense was spectacular, holding the Seawolves to only 15 total shots. Simmons was credited with his first win on the season.

Colorado State (1-1) will have a tough weekend on dock as Division III Colorado College and up and coming Loyola Marymount await the Rams. The Colorado College game will be on the road in Colorado Springs while LMU will visit Fort Collins the very next day.