Colorado State Blasts Washington St. Louis 21-1, Move to 6-0 on the Season
Fort Collins, CO
By Alex Smith
March 6, 2004
On a blustery and fairly cold day, the #1 Colorado State Rams welcomed the
#21 Washington University St. Louis Bears to Fort Collins, CO. The weather
forecast called for temperatures in the mid-fifties, but thanks to a cold
wind off of the foothills both teams had to endure what would have otherwise
been a beautiful spring day. Neither team played particularly well in the
first quarter, but the Rams’ offense finally got clicking in the second and
third quarters, scoring nine and seven goals respectively.
Colorado State gave the Bears plenty of opportunities in the first several
minutes of the game, but the Bears struggled clearing the ball and never got
into a good rhythm offensively. Pat Bird (Bishop O’Dowd HS, CA) scored the
first of his four goals at 10:29 of the first on a nifty behind the back
shot and CSU never looked back. Kelten Johnson (Bainbridge HS, WA), who led
the Rams with seven points, got the first of his six assists on Bird’s goal.
Johnson was in the groove all day long, feeding four different goal
scorers on his six helpers.
The Rams played flat throughout most of the first half, but still managed to
take a 12-0 lead into the break thanks to three second quarter goals by
Bird. The wind clearly took its toll on both teams, as passes fluttered to
the ground and out of bounds often. Mark Plonkey (Golden HS, CO) was a man
among boys, scooping up a game high eleven ground balls to go along with his
assist.
The CSU defense played well the few times they were tested and only allowed
one first half shot on goal. Garrett Fitzgerald (Regis Jesuit, CO) made
several nice stops in cage in his thirty minutes of work in the second half.
The Bears’ Chris Houston (Morristown HS, NJ) played a fine game in goal for
Washington by posting an impressive 15 saves, including six in the first
quarter to keep the game close. But the Bears were simply overmatched,
managing a total of just eight shots on the game. Washington’s lone goal
was scored by Doug Caruthers (Parkway South, MO) with 7:23 left in the game.
Colorado State also got good efforts from Matt Disney (Heritage HS, CO), who
had three goals and two assists, and Dan Stevens (Suffern HS, NY), who
registered three goals and one assist. In all, fourteen different Rams got
points in the game and everyone on the roster played by the end of the first
half.
Next up for the 6-0 Rams is a very tough trip to the Pacific Northwest. On
the nine day, six game Spring Break Odyssey, CSU will take on #11 Oregon, #4
Sonoma State, Pacific Lutheran, #17 Cal State Chico, the University of
Washington, and #12 Simon Fraser. As long as the weather holds up, it will
be one of the most challenging road trips in team history. Washington St.
Louis will play the University of Northern Colorado on Sunday before taking
on the #15 Colorado Buffaloes on Tuesday.
Game Notes:
- Kelten Johnson’s six assists is a season high for the Rams, topping the
five assist output by Matt Reiss earlier in the year
- The Bears’ eight total shots is also a low for shots allowed on the season
- The game was the first played on the Rams’ true home field on campus at
Colorado State University
- Three Rams are now tied for the team lead in points, as Nick
Stanitz-Harper (15g, 5a), Tim Farquhar (11g, 9a) and Kelten Johnson (9g,
11a) have 20 each
Goals by Quarters:
CSU: 3 – 9 – 7 – 2 = 21
WASH: 0 – 0 – 0 – 1 = 8
Goals:
CSU – Bird (4), Stevens and Disney (3), Stanitz-Harper and Murphy (2),
Johnson, Koll, Robinson, Johns, Everett, Clark, Snively (1)
WASH – Caruthers (1)
Assists:
CSU – Johnson (6), Farquhar (3), Disney (2), Plonkey, Robinson, Stevens (1)
WASH – None
Goaltenders:
CSU – Jokisch (30:00 minutes, 1 saves, 0 goals against), Fitzgerald (3
saves, 1 goal against)
WASH – Houston (15 saves, 21 goals against)
Face-Offs Won:
CSU – 17/26
WASH – 9/26
Shots:
CSU – 51
WASH – 8
Ground Balls:
CSU – 56
WASH – 36
Extra Man:
CSU – 1/1
WASH – 0/2
Penalties:
CSU – 2 for 2:00
WASH – 1 for 1:00
Attendance: 100 |
