Colorado Looks To Improve Record In
Missouri
Nick Salen; Public Relations, CU Lacrosse
March 10, 2010
UNIVERSITY OF
COLORADO MEN’S LACROSSE GAME NOTES
No. 11 Colorado (1-1, RMLC 0-0) @ No. 16 Lindenwood (4-3, GRLC 0-0)
@Miami (FL) (4-2, SELC SOUTH I 1-2)
COLORADO RETURNS TO
TURF IN ST. LOUIS
The University of Colorado will travel to St Louis, Missouri
this weekend to face back to back games versus Lindenwood March 12th
at 8pm, followed by Miami (FL) March 13th at 4pm. Both games will be played on the Lions’ home
field.
BUFFS SEEK TO END
WEEKEND AT 3-1
CU opened the season with a heartbreaker loss to the
University of New Hampshire falling 9-8 March 5th. With redemption on their mind, CU pulled off
a monster upset to No. 3 Simon Fraser two days later by a final of 17-7. Lindenwood meanwhile is on a three game
winning streak and look to increase it to five this weekend at home against the
Buffs and the ‘Canes coming off wins against Texas A&M, Tennessee and
Texas. After losing to conference rival Florida State 17-7, Miami is currently
on a two game win streak beating Florida International and Florida Gulf Coast.
LET THE RECORD SHOW
As of the 2006 season, Colorado is currently 10-7 in
conference games and 34-17 in non-conference.
Lindenwood has dominated its conference since the same time only losing
1 game with a 24-1 record. In
non-conference play, the Lions are 28-23.
For Miami, their record outside the SELC South 1 is 9-2 since 2007 but
6-14 in the conference.
HEAD TO HEAD
The Buffaloes’ previous and very first matchup with the
Lions came out in their favor defeating them at home 9-4 on April 9, 2009. The Buffs have never faced Miami (FL) until
this weekend.
STATISTICS
Colorado dropped this week from 7 to 11 in the MCLA Magazine
polls, and Lindenwood rose from 17 to 16.
The Hurricanes remain unranked in the top 23, but still will not be
underestimated by head coach Pete Stevenson and his squad. Miami currently averages 11 points per game
in the regular season against 9.83 goals against average. Meanwhile, Lindenwood bolsters a 9.43 points per game and a 9.86 goals against
average; And Colorado? 12.5 goal average versus 8 goals against.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Junior James Blackburn, 6 goals and 3 assists, and freshman
Doug Lilburne, 5 goals, currently lead Colorado’s offense. That’s 4.5 points per game for Blackburn and
2.5 for Lilburne. Miami’s scoring is led
by junior attackman Keith Ryan who has 22 goals and 9 assists, averaging just
over 5 points a game alone. Another
notable is Chris Fitzgerald, also a junior on attack, who averages 4 ppg with
16 goals and 8 assists. For Lindenwood,
it is senior midfielder Samuel Spallitta with 16 goals in 7 games and 4
assists, averaging just under 3 ppg, and Tyler Davis. Davis is a junior
attackman as well and holds a 1.85 ppg average at the moment with 10 tallies
and 3 assists.
Defensively, Colorado seniors Martin Taffet and Mike
Geocaris make quite the formidable foe alongside freshman Ben Litwak. They have helped the Buffs maintain pressure
on the opponent’s offense and improved clearing wise, something that has
plagued them since the preseason. For
the Lions, it’s a combined effort of Julian Barnes, Jessie Stone and Daniel
Strike. All three have contributed to
Lindenwood’s low ppg so far, are able to scoop the ground ball consistently and
cause turnovers. They are also able to
stay out of the penalty box very often; Only 6 and a half minutes of combined
penalty time has come from the Lion’s defense, that’s just over 55 seconds of
man down situations caused by the long poles in 7 games. Look for the senior leadership of Miami to
cause problems for the offense as well.
Philip Davis, Tommy Holder and Matt LaPan are all in their final year,
have played in all 6 games for the Hurricanes this season and are not afraid to
use force to get their point across.
Both Holder and Davis alone have 4 minutes in the box each and are known
to intimidate the opposing shooters.
And how can we leave out the men between the pipes? All three of the teams’ starting goaltenders
show impressive numbers so far this season.
Colorado’s William Brown has started both games so far and as of now
holds an average of 10.5 save per game, 6.5 goals against and a .618 save
percentage. Lindenwood’s sophomore Danny
Ashlock also has played in all of the Lion’s matchups so far and shows 61
saves, but as let 54 passed him, leaving Ashlock with just over 50% in save
percentage. For Miami, watch Tim
Heacock. The senior is currently averaging
16.5 saves per game and a .627 save percentage with an impressive 99 saves.