“CU Falls Late to Wildcats”

Nick Salen; Public Relations, CU Lacrosse

Boulder(Mar 5, 2010)  The University of Colorado fell short late Friday night to the University of New Hampshire, giving up 2 goals late in the fourth quarter for a final score of 9-8.  The Buffaloes won the ground ball battle with 37, clearing was not a problem as it had been in the preseason, and 44 shots to New Hampshire’s 37 .  But in the end, it was a combination of penalties (12) and New Hampshire’s Jacob Katz locking down the cage in the second half that evidently sank CU’s lead.

“It’s frustrating as a coach,” says coach Pete Stevenson.  “I felt like we were better than we played tonight, and I hope we can show that later on in the year.”

It didn’t take long for the fireworks to start, with Colorado scoring just two minutes into the game and establishing an early three goal lead after the first quarter.  CU also dominated the second with 13 more shots compared to the Wildcats’ 5, going into halftime at 6-3. 

Two completely different teams took the field in the second half; New Hampshire’s offense woke up and started challenging the Buffs’ defense with 14 shots, and capitalized on two of their six man-up opportunities in the 3rd to levy the gap.  In retrospect, Colorado’s offense kept the pressure on the Cats’ defense but could only find the back of the net once on 9 attempts in the quarter. 

The fourth looked much like the third; Colorado pressed on to get shots but again could not get past the goal line with the exception of one.  CU would also add three more penalties to their tally, as UNH slowly continued to claw back. They were finally able to knot up the score at 8 with just over 5 minutes left in the contest, and never led the game until a little over 2 minutes left, after netting the final goal.  CU got a few more chances to re-tie the game but continued to be shut down by Jacob Katz.  As the final whistle blew, the Buffaloes’ bench was a mix of silence and irritation.

“We came in probably a bit more prepared than they were, but they outcoached us and outplayed us the second half,” Stevenson commented.

Freshman Joe Gardiner highlighted UNH’s offense with 4 goals including the game winner.  Also credited are James Rubio, Garrett Buckley(2), Evan Flower and Michael Maloney. In net Jacob Katz turned away 17 shots on goal and letting only 2 by him in the second half.  Those 2 goals were by Colorado senior Tyler Snyder who had 3 total in the game alongside single tallies by Ryan Haines, Alex Pudly, Darren Hulick, Doug Lilburne, and Tyler Patzik.  Will Brown had 13 saves in net for the Buffaloes.

CU has 60 minutes left to play this weekend, hosting Simon Fraser Sunday night at Kittredge Field. UNH meanwhile will wrap up their Colorado visit in Fort Collins to face the CSU Rams Sunday afternoon.