Lacrosse shocker closes club weekend

The world of CSU club sports was shocked this weekend as No. 2

Cal-Santa Barbara Gauchos upset the No. 1 CSU Rams 10-8 in a game

matching the two best men’s club lacrosse teams in the nation.

The Rams had already gone through the No. 5 Michigan Wolverines

11-4 on Friday and the No. 12 Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs 22-4 on

Saturday in a tournament hosted by Michigan in Ann Arbor.

“I do know one thing and that is that now we are mortal,” wrote

head coach Flip Naumburg in his online journal after the loss.

It was Sunday’s matchup that featured arguably the two best club

teams in the nation. The last time the Rams (15-1) and Gauchos met,

in the U.S. Lacrosse Intercollegiate Association National

Championship game, the Rams came away with a 6-4 victory and a

national championship. It is likely that if the Rams want to repeat

as champs, they will see the Gauchos again.

“We have now seen a reflection of ourselves that we had not yet

experienced,” Naumburg wrote. “Losing (is) brand new. It had been a

year or whatever. Now let’s see what we are really made of.”

The Rams had a 7-6 lead going into the fourth quarter, and

neither team had a held a lead of more than two goals. Then UCSB

erupted, scoring four times and knocking off the No. 1 Rams.

“We were down early, but led 5-4 at half, and 7-6 after three

quarters before a disastrous fourth quarter sealed our fate,”

Naumburg wrote.

Of the top three teams in competition, Michigan, UCSB and CSU

all won two games and lost one, so the loss that the Rams suffered

to the Gauchos might be offset by the Gauchos’ loss to

Michigan.

The Rams will host No. 3 Brigham Young Friday at Rocky Mountain

High School.

Game of the Week CSU 11, Colorado 9

The women’s lacrosse team took on Colorado-Boulder on CSU’s

intramural fields. (When?)

True to game-of-the-week form, the lacrosse game was an exciting

nail-biter ’til the end. Despite the weather being both cold and

rainy the Rams jumped out quickly making the score 4-1 after just

eight minutes. CU battled back the entire game and forced an

overtime period.

With overtime becoming a common occurrence between these two

teams, naturally this game wouldn’t be decided in regulation. In

overtime the Rams showed the Buffs who had the better team. Juli

Ramirez scored a go-ahead goal and a Kate Sebesta added a goal to

slam the door on CU 11-9.

The women’s lacrosse team will now be idle until the Utah

Playday in Salt Lake City on April 17 to 18.

Baseball

The CSU club baseball team continues to impress, winning all its

games this weekend against Northern Colorado. Game 1 was tied going

into the fifth inning before the Rams’ Damon Myers scored Chris

Dixon with a double and Austin Tillack batted in pinch runner Caleb

Bond.

Game 2 wasn’t much of a game as the Rams scored eight in the

first to put away UNC quickly 15-3. Game 3 was the toughest game

for the Rams. Down 5-2 in the seventh, the Rams mounted a comeback

and with a few key hits pulled out a 7-5 win.