Fort Collins, Colorado- In their last game of the 2009 season, the 8th ranked Colorado State Rams (11-7, 2-2) put on one of their best shows as they defeated the Nebraska Cornhuskers (9-4, 3-1), 20-3.  In addition to the offensive scoring spree, the Colorado State defense limited Nebraska to very few scoring opportunities.

“I thought we played well as a team today, no matter how deep we went,” said assistant coach Alex Smith.  “It was important to have some fun and blow off some steam after last night.  I thought our second and third units did a great job executing our team offense and defense no matter what the score was.”

Amongst the plethora of goal scorers for the Rams, sophomores Cooper Kehoe (Stevenson HS; CA) and Spencer Morrison (Mountain Vista HS; CO), and freshman Stephen Unkrich (Mountain Vista HS; CO) stood out the most on the day with their performances.  Kehoe, one of the Rams’ leading scorers all season, netted three goals with one assist.  Morrison and Unkrich have both come on strong late in the season for the Rams.  Unkrich achieved his second hat trick in three games, and Morrison put two goals in net, also for the second time in three games, to match his two assists against the Cornhuskers.

Nebraska wasn’t able to bring the same level of competition that the Colorado Buffaloes brought the previous night to the Rams, which allowed Colorado State to put up the numbers they did, but they are still a developing program since they were founded in 2001.

“It was great to see Nebraska have a growing, working program,” commented Colorado State coach Flip Naumburg.  “I’m glad all of our players got plenty of playing time as well.”

One bright spot for the Cornhuskers was the play of freshman Sam Jura.  He was involved in all three of Nebraska’s goals, two were at his own hands and the third he fed the ball to sophomore Dan Clauson, who was able to finish the play for the goal.

“Nebraska is a new team, but there is a lot of new lacrosse in Omaha and Lincoln, so hopefully they will continue to grow,” said Smith.  “We were glad to have them out and wish them the best of luck building a program.”

Colorado State has the chance to redeem themselves this coming Friday as they take on #3 Brigham Young in the first round of the RMLC tournament in Boulder, Colorado.  This match-up will feature the first (BYU) and third (CSU) seeds in the 4 p.m. game on Franklin Field, while the second (CU) and fourth (Utah) seeds will play in the 7 p.m. game, also on Franklin Field.

According to Smith, “this week is going to be about us being together.  We really want to focus on little things that can make us successful against BYU.  It’s going to be an uphill battle, but we have nothing left to save it for.  I’m looking forward to how we are going to come out this weekend.”

The last time the Rams and Cougars met earlier this season, the Cougars were able to fend off the Rams by a score of 9-6.  Although Brigham Young outplayed Colorado State in the first half, the Rams played much better in the second half to outscore the Cougars 3-2.  If Colorado State can come out playing like they did in the second half, they will pose a problem for Brigham Young, as well as Colorado if they have the chance to meet again.

We need to play our best game of the year or I’m afraid it will be our last game of the year,” commented Coach Naumburg.