May. 12th, 2004 - Colorado State dodges Michigan bullet with late rally
Numerous storylines to report on this soggy afternoon in Fenton.
Michigan facing the inevitable challenge of getting thru the "quarterfinal hump." The Wolverines have never advanced to the national semifinals. 5 straight losses in the quarters for John Paul's squad.
Colorado State facing the challenge of defending their national title. The Rams are trying to reach the championship finale for unprecedented 6th straight year.
The reserved Michigan squad would start slow or should I say it was a hot start for the Rams. Colorado State put three on the board and six different Rams were involved.
"We started slow," admitted Wolverine Head Coach John Paul. "We were sloppy early in the game."
Three – nill Rams less then 4 minutes into the contest and a quarterfinal blow out could be on the horizon.
But the Wolverines would scratch their way back into it as they switched defenses from a zone to a man-to-man.
Jeff Hanna drove the right side and snuck a goal past Ram goalie Pete Jokisch to get Michigan on the board.
The first quarter ended with CSU enjoying a 3 to 1 lead.
The Rams were a perfect nine for nice in clear attempts after 15 minutes. Michigan had trouble with their transition game early.
Light rain is falling at the A-B Sports Center when Sophomore Tim Chorey adds another Colorado State goal at the 10:51 mark of the 2nd quarter. LSM Mark Plonkey busted up a Michigan clearing attempt and shoveled a backhanded feed to Chorey who bounced it past Michigan goalie Dan Webber.
This Colorado State goal would be the last one for the next 27 minutes and 2 seconds.
Michigan would settle back into the tight & physical contest and spearhead a methodical 5 – 0 scoring run that would last until early in the 4th quarter. A pair of Mike O'Leary goals helped the Wolverines tie the game in the 2nd stanza.
The Rams were clearly frustrated. The light rain and high grass was slowing things down for the speedy Colorado State dodgers.
"We had a nice run early, but then we forced it a little bit. Michigan was in and out of the zone. Our defense broke down and before we knew we were down by two. I was really scared we weren't going to win the game," noted a relieved CSU Head Coach Flip Naumburg afterwards.
Michigan was rejuvenated as they took the lead in the third quarter. The game was sky high on emotion and physical play. Colorado State standout LSM Mark Plonkey was all over the field. But the Wolverines wouldn't back down.
Michigan by two (6 – 4) after three quarters of play. The second seeded Rams were in trouble.
Midfielder Patrick Bird (Bishop O'Dowd H.S.) finally ended the long scoring drought for Colorado State on a feed from Tim Farquhar.
Nick Stanitz-Harper would tie things up for Colorado State a few moments later on an unassisted goal. However, Michigan would respond with a Matt Hudson extra-man goal.
13 seconds later Derek Koll would hammer home a goal on a feed from Rocky Mountain Lacrosse Conference Offensive Player of the Year Kelton Johnson to re-tie the contest.
Colorado State was having trouble staying out of the penalty box. The Rams would be tagged for 8 penalties in the final physical quarter.
With the game tied, an apparent Michigan goal is waived off for a crease violation. Senior captain Jeff Hanna scored on an amazing behind the back shot as he dove toward the crease from the right pipe. The officials invoked the "no dive" rule to disallow the goal.
It turned out to be the biggest play in a game full of big plays.
After the "non-goal" for Michigan, Colorado State would conclude the quarterfinal contest with four straight goals.
Plonkey would score on a busted clear attempt by Michigan. The speedy LSM beat Webber, driving from the right pipe.
Matt Disney (Heritage H.S.; CO) would pump in another CSU goal just nine seconds later. Michigan had spun from being one goal up, to two goals down in a nano-second.
Derek Koll would chip in with another Ram goal a minute later to push the CSU lead to three goals with 3:39 left.
The "CSU chants" are deafening at Field Four. Michigan appeared shocked at how quickly their lead and momentum had evaporated.
Kelton Johnson punctuated the victory on a late, shorthanded goal with 19 seconds left and the Rams had finalized an 11 – 7 victory over Michigan.
Michigan goalie Dan Webber (19 saves) noted the loss. "You expect a physical game, when one team is going home. You can't let down against at team like that. In the end, it cost us the game."
A naturally disappointed Michigan Head Coach John Paul discussed the loss following the contest. "We just have to win a game, everyday. Yesterday we had a tough game (against Cal Poly). This tournament has evolved into a situation where you play someone tough every day. We knew what CSU could do, but we felt like we matched up with well with them."
Colorado State will face BYU in Friday's second semifinal. The contest is a rematch of a regular season RMLC contest from back on April 9th that saw the Rams win by 8 goals at home.
Naumburg previewed the rematch. "BYU has the most potent offense in the MDIA and our aim is to play solid defense."