May. 11th, 2004 - Minnesota-Duluth learns defense alone cannot defeat Colorado
Fenton, MO - Patient offense and a stifling defense proved too much for the 14th seeded Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs as the third seeded Colorado Buffaloes advanced to the second round of the MDIA National Tournament with a 10-3 victory. Colorado sophomore midfielder Jeremy Kellog (Boston, MA) led all scorers with three goals and one assist.
Colorado established their game plan early, dominating possession and ball control, but found the Bulldog defense to be as steadfast as their own.
"In a situation like this, when you are playing four back-to-back games, possessing the ball is probably the most important thing you can do," said Colorado Head Coach John Galvin.
Shooting proved to be an issue for both teams, with 14 shots between the two opponents in the first quarter yielding only two goals for Colorado.
"I don't think we took the smartest shots, their goalie played great," said Galvin. "We also hit him a couple of times, but it was tough to put the ball by him."
The Colorado defense baffled the Bulldog offense through the second quarter, shifting from man-to-man to zone defenses and allowing only low percentage shots against senior goaltender Chris Bluse (Golden, CO).
"Lots of talk, lots of heads up play, communication is the basis of our defense," said Bluse. "As long as we are all talking, we know where each other are, things work for us."
At 11:38 in the second quarter, a slashing penalty on Minnesota-Duluth junior midfielder Dan O'Donnell (South Saint Paul H.S., MN) led to a Colorado man-up goal. Midfielder Tim Leonard (Birmingham, MI) was able to find sophomore Brandon Bailey (Littleton, CO) at the top of the box whose bounce shot just kissed the crossbar behind senior Bulldog goalie Sam Litman (Duluth East H.S., MN).
"We have the ability to play a pressure defense if we have the legs to do it," said Litman, lamenting the fact that the Bulldogs only had four close defenders available for today's game. "If we could have forced some more mistakes on their part, we could have maybe given us a little more offensive time."
The offensive drought continued for the Bulldogs until midway through the second quarter, when a smothering ride and turnover led to their first goal.
Colorado defender Tate Price (Littleton, CO), having trouble with a loose ball, hurled an underhand pass towards the crease from the right wing, not realizing Bluse had already scrambled behind the net. Bulldogs Attackman Matt Reeves (Mankato-West H.S., MN) garnered the loose ball, and without Bluse to make the save, chalked up the empty net goal to put the score at 3-1.
The Buffaloes quickly put the kibosh on that momentum, and with 4:46 remaining in the half, Colorado's Brian Morgan (Littleton, CO) looped around the cage unmolested and fired a point blank shot in the top of the net.
A little over two minutes later, Kellog drew an early slide behind the crease and found senior attackman Gus Levy (Westchester, CO) alone up top to give Colorado the 5-1 lead going into the half.
In-between halves, with the team stats nearly identical, the Bulldogs' defense felt they had done their job, holding a team that went toe to toe with Colorado State and Sonoma State to only five goals, but offensively they were still struggling.
"We didn't finish," said Head Coach Rob Graff of Minnesota-Duluth. "With a team as good defensively as Colorado, every time they make a mistake, we have to capitalize on it."
"We had a chance to cut it to 5-2 going into the half… a pinpoint pass to the attackman's stick, and we hit pipe. We run a play out of a timeout and have a specific shooter we want, and throw it into the bushes. At this level, you need to make the play," stressed Graff.
The third quarter proved to be all Colorado, with the Buffaloes scoring three goals, two by junior attackman Jason Anderson (Denver, CO). Anderson's first goal came off a broken clear and the second standing weak side on the crease, after receiving a feed from sophomore Zach Lynd (Austin, TX) from behind cage.
The Bulldogs were able to recover, scoring two goals in the fourth quarter, once taking advantage of a man-up situation. A four year veteran of the tournament, Graff was both an optimist and a realist about the future of his program and their quest to escape the first round.
"We're young, both offensively and defensively. We only lose 4 or 5 starters. We learned by playing good teams this year that you don't get a second chance, and we are not guaranteed to be here" said Graff. "Holding (Colorado) to ten goals, I think defensively we are right there."
"We talked about lessons, and learning lessons is expensive. We don't like learning lessons twice. We learned a lesson when we went to Michigan about playing defense. Now we have to learn a lesson about offense," said Graff.
Colorado was able to finish strong after the Bulldog rally, tacking on two goals in the final five minutes to put the score into double digits, and sending them off on a positive note for tomorrow's quarterfinal match-up against rival Brigham Young.
"(Minnesota-Duluth) is a great team," said Coach Galvin. "They slowed the ball down like we did, made it a possession game, but we came out on top, we had the lucky day."
"One game, one day at a time," said Bluse when asked his thoughts about the remaining tournament games. "Patience… some of us don't have that virtue yet, but Coach is building it into us."