Colorado State Dusts Utes; BYU Remains
from press release
PROVO, Utah - The No. 2 Colorado State Rams opened up RMLC
conference tournament play with a workman-like effort against No.
18 Utah, turning a 5-2 halftime score into a 15-7 victory. The Rams
were paced by Cooper Kehoe's six point effort, but the game was
closer than the score may indicate as Utah made CSU work for
everything they got during the game.
"I felt like our effort just wasn't our best today," said CSU coach
Alex Smith. "Utah had a good game plan and they played well, but we
made a lot of mistakes in the middle of the field and played a bit
out of character."
Utah jumped out of the gates early with a goal from Tyler Kunz but
CSU answered with three straight to close the quarter at 3-1. From
there, the Utes were chasing and just unable to close the gap to
closer than four throughout the game. After the Rams got up 5-2 at
the half and 8-4 at the end of the third, they closed the game out
with a 7-3 run in the fourth./
Aside from Kehoe's three goals and three assists, CSU was led by
Paul Larson's five goals and Austin Fisher, who pitched in with two
goals and three assists. Utah got three goals and two assists from
Mark Manning and solid goaltending from Alex Watanawekin, who saved
12 shots. CSU's Alex Jacques turned in a solid performance, making
eight saves as well.
Next up for the Rams is Brigham Young who defeated Colorado 10-8 in
the second semifinal. Game time for the RMLC championship game is
5:00pm on Saturday as the Rams look to win their first conference
title since the 2006 season. BYU will be looking to avenge a 10-5
loss to CSU last weekend.
