Coach says conference championship a must-win for men’s lacrosse team
It’s a tough way to head into the postseason.
For the third year in a row, though, the CU men’s club lacrosse team will be heading into the postseason off a hard loss to rival Colorado State in the Rocky Mountain Showdown at Invesco Field at Mile High.
Junior goalie Kevin Moriarty said the loss does not get any easier.
“It’s always a tough one for us, losing like that,” Moriarty said. “I feel like we put everything we had into the game. We started off slow in the first quarter, and that ended up being our downfall in the end.”
No. 17 Colorado went down 5-1 fast in the first quarter Saturday night, and could not rally enough to take back a victory. They ultimately fell 8-4 to No. 7 Colorado State.
Coming into the second quarter, the pace slowed. The Buffs were able to match the Rams’ offense, and both teams scored a pair of goals.
Moriarty said playing at the Broncos’ stadium in front of a much larger crowd than the team was used to may have contributed to the first quarter troubles.
“I felt like coming out, maybe we were a little surprised with the crowd,” Moriarty said. “We might have let that affect us a little bit. Once the second quarter came around, we got our heads back and calmed down.”
CU made a number of adjustments after the first quarter. While the defense as a whole came out stronger, Moriarty stood out. He was not only stopping the easy shots he let go by in the first, but he was stopping much bigger shots.
Head coach John Galvin said the slower-pace of the second half was how Colorado likes to play lacrosse.
“That’s our type of team, letting them score one goal,” coach Galvin said. “Not getting more goals was obviously an issue, but I think that’s our type of defense – slow the game down – but our offense has to pick it up, and the transition game has to get going, the clearing game has got to get going.”
Along with a few specific changes related to how Colorado covered certain CSU players, the team switched from man-to-man to a zone defense. Both CU and CSU each only scored one goal in the second half.
Coach Galvin said while most of the changes were not something he would run a full game with, they were effective for the team’s four-point deficit.
“I think our adjustments worked, which is great,” coach Galvin said. “I wish we would have done it a little bit earlier.”
The team only has seven upperclassmen, and coach Galvin said he saw the team make some young mistakes in the game. Moriarty said playing at Invesco is a tough environment for the younger players, but he thinks it will help them prepare for the conference championships.
“Hopefully it’s giving the younger guys some experience,” Moriarty said. “I mean I felt like as a whole we played pretty well .. Hopefully we can carry the last three quarters into the RMLCs.”
The Buffs will take on No. 4 Brigham Young Friday in the opening round of the Rocky Mountain Lacrosse Conference Championships. Coach Galvin said the team will probably have to win the conference championship for a bid into the Men’s Collegiate Lacrosse Association National Championships in mid-May.
The Buffs fell 14-5 earlier this season when they played BYU. Coach Galvin said the Saturday game against CSU has helped prepare the team for the matchup with the Cougars, though.
“It’s made me realize where our strengths are defensively, and what systems we have to run and what schemes we can run,” coach Galvin said. “We have to work on some offensive stuff, from shooting to creating space for each other, and I think if we keep doing that, we can be a little more successful against BYU on Friday.”
Contact Campus Press Assistant Sports Editor Margot Schneider at margot.schneider@thecampuspress.com.
