BYU 11, Colorado College 9 FINAL (Friday March 28th)

by **LacrosseHub** on Thu Mar 27, 2008 2:27 pm

LacrosseHub's Prediction: BYU 13, Colorado College 8

BYU will travel to Grand Junction, Colorado to face Colorado College. The Cougars are looking to bounce back after a tough loss against Minnesota-Duluth. In the most recent MCLA polls, BYU dropped to #6. Colorado College is 6-2 on the season after a disappointing 2007 campaign.

Colorado College returned the majority of their team from last year with the exception of a goalie. Their key wins have been an overtime victory against CSU and a blow out against then ranked Washington & Lee. Their key losses have been to RPI and Mt. Ida. According to LaxPower they are currently ranked #79 in Division 3. Colorado College is averaging 10.7 goals per game on offense and letting up 9.6 goals against on defense. Their offense has been impressive in their victories but they are trying to find answers in the goal.

Although Colorado College's offense has scored lots of goals in their victories, their offensive leaders need to be more consistent. In their game against Mt. Ida, midfielders Dugan and Combs combined for a 3/23 shooting performance. (This is even worse than my buddy, Mike Hines, career average of .204%) They will need to dodge hard and stick their shots. Their success creates opportunities for other Colorado College players. Although BYU's defense has had a tendency to give up lots of goals, they did a great job against Minnesota-Duluth. Colorado College's offense will struggle against BYU's athletic defenders. BYU's defense will have to be more physical around the crease than they were against Minnesota-Duluth. Also, BYU's goalie, Kikimoto is one of the best goalies that Colorado College will play against. Look to Kikimoto to make 12+ saves in the game.

BYU's offense will need to play at a higher level than they did against Minnesota-Duluth. If they can limit the turnovers and sloppiness around the net, BYU should be able to score 12+ goals. Their attack and midfield will have many opportunities off the dodge but they need to make smart decisions when they have space. In many instances, their offensive players should make the extra pass instead of forcing feeds to the crease. Colorado College will have an extremely hard time matching up against Grow, Heir, Manning and Austin.

In their two losses, Colorado College's extra man unit has been atrocious. They were 0-10 on EMO. If they want to win on Friday night they will have to execute when they are a man up. BYU's man down defense was very strong against Minnesota-Duluth. Colorado College will continue to struggle and this may cost them a close game. The x-factors in the game will be which team can control the face offs and Colorado College's goalie situation. Both teams have been strong on face offs. In a high scoring game, the extra possessions can make or break a team. Colorado College's freshman goalies, Max Pluss and Scott MacArthur, have been splitting time in goal and their efforts have been erratic. They only combined for 7 saves against Washington & Lee and 5 saves against Mt. Ida. Pluss and MacArthur have to combine for more than a .500% save percentage for Colorado College to win.

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by **laxdad03** on Thu Mar 27, 2008 8:25 pm

All I see on BYU's website is a note about live stats, does that mean there's no audio from this one? Perhaps HasNoLeft isn't able to make the trip...

by **byualum** on Thu Mar 27, 2008 9:14 pm

laxdad03 wrote:All I see on BYU's website is a note about live stats, does that mean there's no audio from this one? Perhaps HasNoLeft isn't able to make the trip...

Sadly, I won't be making the trek either...the greatest group of 2nd-grade lacrosse players I've ever seen open their season on Saturday at 8am. As their fearless leader, I can't leave them hanging on opening day.

by **Has No Left** on Fri Mar 28, 2008 9:04 pm

BYU 4 - CC 4

Halftime

http://www.byulacrossewebcasting.com/li ... /xlive.htm

by **Has No Left** on Fri Mar 28, 2008 9:40 pm

BYU 9 - CC 7

End of 3rd

by **fullofregrets** on Fri Mar 28, 2008 10:01 pm

Byu is up 11-9 with 2 minutes to go.

by **fullofregrets** on Fri Mar 28, 2008 10:15 pm

Final 11-9 BYU pulls out the victory.

by **byualum** on Fri Mar 28, 2008 10:27 pm

Good win for the Y...big week coming up at Boulder and at Ft. Collins.

by **laxdad03** on Fri Mar 28, 2008 10:30 pm

How did we get the results? (Many thanks, BTW...). LiveStats seems to have gone down at halftime, never to return. After a REAL slow start (as evidenced particularly by the imbalance in shots, I'm guessing BYU didn't have the ball on offense very much at all), sounds like they managed to turn it around. I'll be interested to get any further details.

by DG on Fri Mar 28, 2008 10:43 pm

laxdad03 wrote:How did we get the results? (Many thanks, BTW...). LiveStats seems to have gone down at halftime, never to return. After a REAL slow start (as evidenced particularly by the imbalance in shots, I'm guessing BYU didn't have the ball on offense very much at all), sounds like they managed to turn it around. I'll be interested to get any further details.

Heard the following details that might be of interest...

-Not much BYU possession in the first half. In that time, CC moved the ball better than any other team BYU has played. Kikumoto was very strong and they were fortunate to have it 4-4.
-BYU got more looks in the 2nd half, and cashed in those opportunities.
-Despite giving up one more goal, the defense settled down and didn't give CC the looks that they were getting in the first half.
-BYU man up looked pretty good.
-There was more balanced production from BYU, as the midfield had at least 6 of the goals, and I think Naegle had 3 goals.

That's all I got. Huge weekend coming up for the Cougs. Will you be there ALUM?

DG

by **laxdad03** on Fri Mar 28, 2008 11:12 pm

Thanks, DG. Yep, next week will be big, wish I could be there.

by **byualum** on Fri Mar 28, 2008 11:18 pm

DG wrote:That's all I got. Huge weekend coming up for the Cougs. Will you be there ALUM?
DG

Thursday in Boulder, yes...and I'm happy to call in updates if the stats go down. Saturday my 2nd-graders play at 12:30 in north Denver. Soonest I'll get to the Fort is 2pm.