Lion’s Big Third Enough
To Top Sliding Buffs
Nick Salen; Pulic Relations, CU Lacrosse
No. 13 (Prodigy poll) University of Colorado lost their
second straight game Wednesday afternoon, losing 8-6 to No. 16 Loyola
Marymount. Although showing an improvement
over their previous game with Utah, The Buffaloes still struggled to find the
net in the second half.
Senior middy Alec Paul opened the scoring in the first
quarter, putting the Lions up by one at the 1:11 mark. They would maintain the lead up until 9:17,
when sophomore Nick Kupcewicz knotted up the score. The Buffs would be up by a score of 3-2 at
halftime, but appeared to be a different team going into the second half.
Kyle Driver’s rifle
from the top of the box put the Buffaloes up by two for a brief time before the
Lions came roaring back. Loyola got
three unanswered goals behind CU’s Will Brown before answering with one of
their own, only to be responded minutes later by Loyola, bringing the score to
6-5 in favor of the Lions going into the fourth quarter. At this point, the Buffs began showing signs
of the team that played last Monday, not being able to capitalize on passes and
being outgunned in the groundball game in pivotal moments. In the end the Buffs would cap one more goal
in comparison to the Lions’ early two in the fourth, sending the Buffaloes back
to under .500.
Although getting more shots off than their previous game,
the Buffs could not get past senior goaltender Thomas Nolman, who stopped 23 in
the Lions upset. Turnovers were again a
problem for Colorado, totaling 17 in the game, 12 of which came in the second
half. The combination of Nolman and the
turnovers by the Buffs meant much time spent in the defensive zone, more
specifically in the final minutes when they really needed the ball and the
Lions were merely killing the clock.
With the win Loyola improves to 8-3 on the year, making it four in a row
and maintaining 3rd overall in the Southwestern Conference.
Up next for the Buffs is No. 2 Chapman, facing off Friday
night at the Panthers home field. The
undefeated team previously wrapped up a 15-2 win over Texas and a scrimmage
victory over Ithaca by a final of 15-12.
Game Notes:
Scoring by Quarter:
Shots:
LMU: 31 CU:
41
Turnovers:
LMU: 17 CU:
17
Clears (Completed)
LMU: 23 CU:
21
Groundballs:
LMU: 21 CU:
38
Penalties:
LMU: 5 for 5:00 CU: 7
for 5:00