Rams Still Rolling: CSU Eases Past Arizona
from press release
TUCSON, Ariz. — The Rams played an ugly game against
the University of Arizona on Monday. Some messy plays allowed the
Wildcats to take possession and keep up with CSU on the scoreboard
for the first half, but the Rams pulled it together in the second
half to defeat them 13-8.
"I would classify this as an ugly win," said CSU coach Alex Smith.
"I don't mean to take anything away from Arizona because they
played great, but we played out of character."
Little mistakes cost the Rams the ball a number of times, and it
seemed like the players weren't 100 percent in the game.
"We are better than what we showed today and if we bring that
effort again we might not get a win," added Smith.
The Wildcats kept neck and neck with the Rams for the first half,
never letting a goal go unanswered with their own in return. The
Rams' offense had to work hard for every goal they scored, and the
Wildcats kept their defense busy as well. Rams goalie Alex Jacques
made several great saves during the game and stopped 13 shots.
But the game wasn't always bleak. Rams' attack men Cooper Kehoe and
Austin Fisher were part of many plays that got the stands cheering.
At one point Kehoe snagged the ball from the goalie as he was
trying to clear it and shot it back into the goal, and at another
time in the game Fisher had the ball, came around the crease, and
tossed the ball in over the goalie's shoulder.
After about 45 minutes of struggle the Rams started to play at the
caliber that they've usually played at this season. They took
smarter shots and kept the Wildcat's goalie busy guessing where the
shot would come from, and the defense worked even harder to disrupt
the Wildcat's plays.
The Rams outplayed the other team in the second half, as is
traditionally their style. They bolted ahead on the score board
scoring six more points and getting a five point lead on the
Wildcats.
"I was happy with the way we finished the game but I think we
learned a lesson in how to prepare today. We had an idea of what
they were all about but we did a bad job getting individually ready
to play" said Smith. "I hope that's not a problem looking
forward."
The Rams will play one more game while on their trip to Arizona
against Chico State this Wednesday at the Arizona State University
fields. A live Twitter feed will be available by following
CSUMensLAX.
