[sc name=”qrank”] The No. 6 Buffs (6-2) saw their four game wining streak come to an end on Sunday with a loss at home against the visiting No. 2 Arizona State Sun Devils (7-1), who outscored Colorado 15-5.
The Buffs managed to keep the game close in the opening minutes, with senior attackman A.J. Blackburn scoring the first goal of the game to put CU above ASU. However, that lead was short lived as the Sun Devil’s began to charge ahead.
Eric Nelson and Jeff Petznick of the Sun Devils combined for a total of nine goals against the Buffs as they saw the game going out of reach. Sun Devil goalie Dylan Westfall kept Colorado out of the net, allowing only 5 of 18 shots to pass.
Colorado Head Coach Mike Ryder was surprised by the margin of victory Arizona had.
“Today was a very inconsistent day for us,” Ryder said. “We came out and played pretty well early on, but we didn’t find the back of the net as much as we wanted to. We really got out of our character on the defense end. Usually we are a defense strong team.”
Colorado hopes to rebound from this loss by gaining victories over Wyoming and Chapman in the coming days. Colorado plays Wyoming on Saturday at 1 p.m. on Kittredge Field, with their game against Chapman following on April 9 at 3 p.m.
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Shay Knolle at Shay.knolle@colorado.edu.