CU men’s lacrosse gets a home victory before three big road games
With less than seven minutes left in the third quarter, Jonathan Atwood raced down the field with the ball. The Chico State goalie moved to the right, watching to see what Atwood was going do. Nick Gennuso ran to the left side of the goal, and before the goalie could react, Atwood shot a pass to Gennuso, who scored in the open goal.
And the crowd went wild.
The seventh-ranked CU men’s lacrosse team took on California State University, Chico, Monday night expecting a win and a number of “and the crowd goes wild” moments. After a preseason No. 2 ranking, a loss to Texas A&M in the Big 12 tournament moved the team down five spots in the Shamrock Lacrosse MCLA Division A poll as of March 14. However, expecting a win can lead to trouble.
“I think we were expecting to win, and that was maybe why we came out slow,” said Andrew Upah, a senior econimics major.
With the game tied at 2-2 early in the second quarter, CU started to play at a championship-caliber level.
“We were sleeping in the first quarter. We just came out slow and needed someone to kick our ass and get us going,” Upah said. “We came out in the middle of the second quarter and started doing our jobs.”
After two Chico State goals in the second, the Buffs responded with four goals, three of which were scored by Upah. At the half, Colorado was up 6-3.
The second half was dominated by CU. The game ended with a 12-7 Colorado victory.
“So far, we are looking pretty good. We are about to go on a big road trip, and we have to improve ourselves. It’s just a time for all of us to come together,” Atwood said. “It starts in practice. A few of our practices have been pretty slow. Today we came out pretty slow, and I think we just need to start fast and finish strong.”
Although all wins are important to rankings, this game was especially important to get the team ready for the upcoming road games.
“It’s good to be on the road with a big win, and hopefully we can bring the momentum into the weekend and our next three games,” said Kevin Moriarty, a sophomore political science major and CU goalie.
Before the season had started, Moriarty told the Campus Press that the team expected no less than the conference and national championships. Six games into the season, things have only slightly changed.
“I mean that is still our goal, but we’ve realized we have to work really hard to get there. We have to work together, and we just want to focus on one game at a time,” Moriarty said. “I think we can (win the conference and national championships).”
The Buffs head into three tough road games next week against the No. 11 University of Arizona, No. 13 Arizona State University and No. 1 University of Oregon, hoping to prove that they deserve not only their conference championship, but the national championship in May.
Contact Campus Press staff writer Margot Schneider at margot.schneider@thecampuspress.com.
