Club game of the Week

The weather Friday afternoon took a turn for the worse. While

Larimer County had a winter storm warning, the No. 1 CSU men’s club

lacrosse team took to the football field at Rocky Mountain High

School where they beat the third-ranked Brigham Young Cougars 14-8

in an intense, cold game.

As the snow started to cover the field CSU’s starting goalie

Kurt Bisnette looked as cold as the weather, letting in the first

goal just 56 seconds into the game. But the resilient Bisnette

stepped up his game and made some great saves.

“Kudos to Bisnette who made 10 saves in his real debut tonight,”

said CSU head coach Flip Naumburg. “He played well and more

importantly he hung in there.”

At 11:12 in the first quarter Derek Koll netted a breakaway goal

to tie the game up and get the 220 fans in attendance back in the

game.

For the next 10 minutes hard hits and great saves dominated the

game as neither team could get a goal past Bisnette or BYU goalie

Tyler Storer. Finally, with only 1:45 left in the first Brian Stone

broke the tie to give the Rams a 2-1 lead, the frustration was

visible on BYU’s Storer as 20 seconds later Dan Stevens made the

game 3-1. Ten seconds later, Koll netted his second goal and the

first quarter ended with a CSU lead 4-1.

Defense once again was a factor in the first part of the second

quarter. Michael Murphy widened the scoring gap with a goal at 8:36

and a minute later Koll picked up his hat trick making the score

6-1.

Four minutes after the Koll goal, Stevens passed the ball to

Kelten Johnson who made a behind the back shot to make the score

7-1.

“Kelton Johnson played his best game of the season with four

goals, two assists and a look in his eye that told me all I needed

to know tonight,” Naumburg said.

At the end of the half, CSU was caught sleeping and BYU freshman

Justin Hier cut into the lead 7-2 at the half.

“I felt good,” said Naumburg about his halftime demeanor. “But

all I thought about as I walked in the locker room to talk to them

was that I wanted us to keep up the intensity.”

The snow continued to fall as the second half opened up with a

no-goal call on BYU that took the wind out of the energized

Cougars. CSU followed the no-call with two goals in just over 30

seconds by Pat Bird and Koll, respectively. The crowd held its

rowdiness for the quarter and went wild when Matt Disney made the

score 10-2 with three minutes left in the third.

Three quick goals by BYU to open the fourth silenced the crowd,

but CSU battled back over the next four minutes and Johnson made

the score 11-5.

BYU answered back, making the score 11-6. Johnson once again

found the back of the goal but as was the tempo of the game BYU

went back down the field and scored two goals one minute apart.

Johnson then slammed the door on the Cougars with a goal with

1:23 on the clock; BYU had another goal disallowed with 29 seconds

left.

“Ultimately the 10-2 deficit was too much for (BYU) to overcome,

but the final frame was not without its stressful moments,”

Naumburg said.

To end it, Murphy threw the ball into the back of the BYU goal

with two seconds left on the clock and the crowd erupted as the

Rams beat the Cougars 14-8.