Colorado State Goes 1-3 At The Roadrunner Invitational

The Colorado St. Rams set of games at the Roadrunner Invitational III this past weekend went fairly well even though the results netted a 1-3 record. On Saturday the Rams were looking to win their third straight game of the year when they played against the host team Cal State Bakersfield and lost 10-9. Colorado State trailed 5-4 at the half and they made their run in the third quarter by outscoring Bakersfield 3-1 and led 8-7 heading into the four quarter.

Bakersfield tie the game at eight just 44 seconds into fourth quarter by Shannon McKenzie and then Bakersfield took the lead for good with 4:58 left in the game when Paige Tsuruda made it 9-8 which proved to be the game winning goal. The game could have gotten out of hand since Bakersfield had two 6-on-5 opportunities, but the Colorado State defense denied Bakersfield any scoring chances when they had a man advantage. Taylor Hanson put Bakersfield up 10-8 and then Colorado State finally got on the board when Caroline Young scored here fifth goal of the game with 44 second left, but it was too little too late for Colorado State.

This would have been a huge win for Colorado State since Bakersfield is the second best team in WWPA play.

Head coach Mike Moody felt that the team played well in the loss:

"We had a game plan," coach Mike Moody said, "and we executed it well, even though we lost. Bakersfield is a good team, and it came down to the fourth period. They capitalized on a couple key offensive turnovers down the stretch, and that was the difference."

Here is the box score against Bakersfield:

CSU Bakersfield 2 3 2 3 10
Colorado State 2 2 4 1 9

CSUB Goals-Paige Tsuruda 2, Jessica Browning 2, Janelle Shelby 1, Malia Pahoa 1, Bianca Adams 1, Shannon McKenzie 1, Sam Shead 1, Taylor Hanson 1

CS Goals-Caroline Young 5, Shelby Schaefer 2, Stephanie Wood 1, Kallie Berry 1

CSUB Saves-Megan Pezzolla 4, Alex Bayer 3, Taylor Hanson 1

In the second game on Saturday, Colorado State took on No. 19 ranked Hartwick fell in a close game 12-9 in a tough physical contest. Once again Colorado State was led by Young who had six of the teams nine goals, and that six tied a school record for most goals in a single game.

Here is what Moody said about the loss:

"Hartwick is a great porgam," Moody said. "It was a very, very physical game, and I felt like our girls responded well, keeping their cool and continuing to play our game. It didn't show in the end, but our girls played well."

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"All in all, I'm proud of the girls," Moody said. "We're very banged up, though, and we're having to work through that stuff in order to get healthy and back to full strength."

On Sunday, Colorado State picked up their first win against Cal State San Bernardino with an offensive clinic by winning 15-14. Colorado State looked to have won this game early as they led 4-1 after one period and 12-8 heading into the fourth quarter. San Bernardino scored nine second half goals including six in the fourth to make this a close game. The game was closer than expected and the second team earned a lot of experience in the win..

In the final game of the weekend Colorado State matched up against No. 7 ranked Loyola Marymount Lions, but LMU was too much as they defeated Colorado State 12-10. This is actually a much better improvement compared to the last time the two schools played which saw LMU win 16-6. Colorado State fell behind early in this game 8-3 after one and then 8-4 at the half, but a rush of goals in the third period cut the lead to 10-9 and 11-10, but LMU's senior Kimberly Benedetti iced the game with less than a minute to give them the 12-10 victory.

Here is the box score:

Loyola Marymount --- 5 - 3 - 1 - 3 --- 12
Colorado State --- 3 - 2 - 3 - 3 --- 10
SCORING: LMU- Mackenzie Beck 3, Alexandra Honny 3, Casey Flacks 2, Kimberly Benedetti 2, Laura Lopez 1, Whitney Delgado 1. CSU- Kallie Berry 2, Shelby Schaefer 2, Jamie Stone 1, Amber Bryan 1, Brianna Sherring 1, Caroline Young 1, Stephanie Weed 1.
SAVES: LMU- Elise Ponce 6. CSU - Michelle Slagle 13