Men's Hockey Co-Hosts Western Classic Tournament This Weekend

BOULDER – The Colorado Buffaloes men’s ice hockey team will co-host the 2010 Western Classic Tournament on Thursday Dec. 2 to Sunday Dec. 5 at the CU Ice Arena.

No. 1 Colorado State and No. 15 Northern Colorado will also co-host the tournament in Fort Collins and Greeley.

Colorado is 9-6-1-1 on the season and could use a good showing over the weekend to improve their number five ranking in the ACHA West division.

The Western Classic has grown a reputation as being one of the premier weekend events in the American Collegiate Hockey Association with some of the best teams from West region participating each year. Eight schools will participate at this year’s event.

Other than CU, CSU and UNC, the five other teams in the tournament will be No. 3 Eastern Washington, No. 9 Northern Arizona, No. 7 San Diego State, No. 13 Texas A&M and No. 2 Utah State. Colorado will play four of the five visiting teams with Utah State being the only school CU won’t face in the four days of competition.

Colorado will begin the tournament on Thursday at 8 p.m. against the Texas A&M Aggies before playing a big Friday night game against the Eastern Washington Eagles at 8:30 p.m. On Saturday the Buffs will play the Northern Arizona Ice Jacks at 7:30 p.m. and will then finish the weekend off on Sunday morning against the San Diego State Aztecs at 10 a.m.

Friday’s game versus EWU will be broadcasted live on CU TV. Audio broadcasts of all four CU games will also be available at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/cubuffshockey.

Last season Colorado finished second in the Western Classic with them losing 4-3 to rival Colorado State in the championship game.

This year there will be a new setup on how the champion will be decided as the school with the largest goal differential (goals for minus goals against) in their four games will be crowned the winner.

The Buffs four games in the Western Classic will be their final ones of the fall semester before the team goes on hiatus for winter break. CU will return to action on Jan. 14-16 at the Gulf Coast Clash Tournament in Fort Myers, Fla. The Buffs won’t play a home game in the spring until Feb. 11 when they square off against CSU.

Admission to all CU games in the tournament will be $5 for the general public and $3 for students with a valid Buff One Card.

Colorado Western Classic Schedule

Thu. Dec. 2 vs. Texas A&M, 8 p.m.

Fri. Dec. 3 vs. Eastern Washington, 8:30 p.m.

Sat. Dec. 4 vs. Northern Arizona, 7:30 p.m.

Sun. Dec. 5 vs. San Diego State, 10 a.m.

All game will be played at the CU Ice Arena which is located inside the Student Recreation Center on campus.

Men's Soccer National Champions

PHOENIX (11/21/10) - The University of Colorado men's club soccer team is the 2010 NCCS National Soccer Champions.

Senior defender Connor Hutchinson scored two goals in the championship game to help lead the Buffaloes to the 3-1 victory over the University of Missouri on Saturday Nov. 20 at the Reach 11 Sport Complex.

“I’m extremely proud of the guys and their accomplishment this year,” said CU head coach Dave Vaughan. “They were dedicated and focused from the very beginning of the season, and we were destined to win this tournament.”

Hutchinson scored four goals in the three days of competition and was named the tournament MVP after his superb performance against Missouri.

The championship is the program's second in its history as the Buffs also won the national tournament in 2005.

Colorado finishes the season with a 19-2 record with their only two losses coming from Colorado State on Oct. 29 and from North Carolina on Nov. 18 in the second game of pool play. The Buffs earned an automatic bid to the national tournament after finishing as the top seed at regionals in October.

Coming into the season the goal of the team was to win the National Championship, but Hutchinson said that it wasn’t until the Buffs’ 3-0 shutout victory over Colorado State on Sept. 11 at Dicks Sporting Goods Park did the club really believe they could win the title.

“The game against CSU was our measuring stick for the season,” Hutchinson said. “That is all you pretty much have to base it off at the beginning, and obviously winning 3-0 in dominating fashion gives you the idea that we could definitely win the championship this year.”

In the championship game, the Buffaloes jumped out to a 3-0 lead with Hutchinson scoring in the 18^th and 75^th minutes and freshman midfielder Anthony Smoller scoring in the 40^th minute before Missouri was able to get on the scoreboard.

MU’s Shane Rasch scored on a penalty kick in the 79^th  minute to cut the Buffs lead to two but that would be as close the Tigers would get as CU would hold on to win the championship match.

Colorado began the tournament on Thursday morning in pool play with a 4-2 victory over the University of Pennsylvania before falling 2-0 to North Carolina later in the day. The Buffs and the Tar Heels both advanced from the pool, but it would be CU that had success in the championship bracket as UNC lost 1-0 in the first round to Virginia.

The Buffs took care of business on Friday to advance to the semifinals on Saturday as they defeated Michigan 1-0 in the first round and then beat Northwestern 3-0 in the quarterfinals.

Colorado continued their hot play on Saturday morning as they took apart Arizona 4-1 in the semifinals before their championship game victory over Missouri.

Freshman goalkeeper Karl Toot played all six games in goal for CU and let only four balls get past him in the final five matches, two of which came on penalty kicks. Toot’s outstanding play in net was good enough for him to be selected as the best goalkeeper in the tournament after the championship game.

Five Buffaloes made the All-Tournament Team with graduate student Daniel Upchurch, junior Daniel Whittle, graduate student Daniel Campbell, Hutchinson and Toot making the list.

The Buffs’ junior varsity squad also had a good tournament in the men’s open division with them making it all the way to the quarterfinals before losing 2-0 to Cal Poly.

At last season’s national tournament, Colorado lost a disappointing game to the University of Florida in the semifinals, which just makes this year’s championship victory so much better for the members of the team who were on last season’s squad.

“Definitely for all of the guys that were on the team last year, it was pretty disappointing to get to the semifinals and not be able to take that last step to win it all,” Hutchinson said. “This year it made it a lot sweeter to make it to the finals and win it.”

Watch the post tournament interview with MVP Connor Hutchinson at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S572-QQMEtk

Tournament website: http://www.nirsa.org/Content/NavigationMenu/Sports/Soccer/NIRSA_Soccer_Sport_.htm

Championship Game Scoring Summary

First Half

18’ – CU Connor Hutchinson

40’ – CU Anthony Smoller

Second Half

75’ – CU Connor Hutchinson

79’ – MU Shane Rasch - PK

Quotes

Head Coach Dave Vaughan

ON WHEN HE KNEW THE TEAM COULD WIN THE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP – “I knew after the CSU game at Dicks Sporting Goods Park that we had a team that could compete for a championship. That is when I knew that we could accomplish something great.”

ON HIS TEAM’S PLAY IN THE TOURNAMENT GAMES – “We were fit, more fit than every other team we played, and we played a smarter tactical game each time.”

Senior Forward and MVP Connor Hutchinson

ON BEING NAMED TOURNAMENT MVP – “I kind of had a good game in the finals. We all played really well and I got to put a couple away. If you put a couple away in the finals you will most likely come back with the MVP.”

ON TEAM’S DEFENSE AND GOALKEEPING – “I thought our defense played amazing, definitely our goalie (Karl Toot) too. He made a couple real good saves in the (championship) game. Definitely a couple that could have gone in and he did a good job keeping them out and keeping the game from getting real close.”

Women's Soccer Finishes in Top Eight at Nationals

PHOENIX (11/21/10) - The University of Coloado women's club soccer team finished in the top eight in the nation after competing at the NCCS National Soccer Championships at the Reach 11 Sport Complex on Nov. 18-20.

Colorado advanced to the championship bracket at nationals as the top seed after playing to a 0-0 tie against Baylor and to a 4-2 win over Florida in pool play on Thursday Nov. 18.

In the first round the Buffaloes easily took care of Ohio State with a 2-0 shutout victory to advance to the quarterfinals against Big 12 foe Texas A&M.

Tied at one, CU would have taken the lead over the Aggies as Carissa London scored for the Buffs, but the goal was disallowed due to a “phantom” foul and in turn forced the game into overtime and eventually to a penalty kick shootout.

Texas A&M defeated Colorado 3-1 in penalty kicks and would go on to win the match 2-1. The Aggies lost 1-0 in the semifinals on Saturday morning to the University of Texas.

CU finishes the year with a 21-3-4 record and advanced to nationals as the top seed from their region.

While the varsity team lost in disappointing fashion in Arizona, the CU junior varsity squad made it all the way to the championship game in the women’s open division.

The JV team won their pool with them only giving up one goal in wins over Northern Arizona, Vermont and Miami.

In the quarterfinals, CU defeated Northeastern 2-1 in a hard fought game and then defeated Oregon 1-0 in the semifinals to advance to the finals. However in the championship game the University of Illinois got the better of Colorado as they beat the Buffs 1-0.

CU’s varsity and junior varsity teams will look to continue the success that they had this season as they now begin to prepare for the 2011 campaign.

CU Women’s Club Soccer website: www.cusoccer.net

Tournament website: http://www.nirsa.org/Content/NavigationMenu/Sports/Soccer/NIRSA_Soccer_Sport_.htm

Men's Water Polo Finishes Eighth at Nationals

CEDAR CITY, Utah (11/15/10) - The Colorado Buffaloes men's water polo team finished eighth in the nation after competing at the National Collegiate Club Championships at the University of Southern Utah from Nov. 12-14.

CU came in as the seventh seed after finishing as champions of the Rocky Mountain conference in which they didn't lose a game in conference play.

The Buffs finished nationals with a 1-3 record with their only victory coming in their first game against the University of Pennsylvania.

After defeating Penn on Friday, Colorado lost a four overtime game on Saturday to the University of Miami (FL).

Exhausted from their game against the Hurricanes, the Buffs came out sluggish in their next game against Arizona State later in the day. Colorado was never able to bounce back from their slow start as the Sun Devils went on for the victory.

On Sunday CU lost their seventh place game to Yale.

Men's Water Polo Heads to Nationals This Weekend

CEDAR CITY, Utah (11/10/10) - The University of Colorado men's water polo team will be the seventh seed at the National Collegiate Club Championships this weekend at the University of Southern Utah.

Colorado will look to continue the success that they had at the Rocky Mountain Conference Championships at the University of Denver on Oct. 31 where they came out as champions.

"Winning the conference was our first goal this season," said senior and team president Steve Nester. "I'm excited to see what we do at nationals."

Colorado finished the season undefeated in conference play at 10-0 and finished the year 10-1 overall with their only loss coming to NCAA Air Force. It is the first time that CU has been undefeated in the conference.

The Buffs B team also had a good showing at the conference championships with them finishing fifth.

CU's trip to nationals will be their first since 2008 when they finished 12th overall. Colorado's best finish ever was in 1999 when they ended the season at number two.

The tournament will be single elimination with a consolation bracket in order to determine the final ranking of the 16 teams. Every team is guaranteed to play four games over the three days of competition.

Colorado will begin play on Friday at 4 p.m. against the University of Pennsylvania, and if the Buffs win, they'll likely play the University of Miami (FL) on Saturday in the first of two games on the day. The National Championship game will be on Sunday.

Big Weekend in Kansas for Cew

WICHITA, Kan. (11/10/10) - The University of Colorado crew team had a great weekend at the Frostbite Regatta on Nov. 7 with the Buffaloes picking up 87 medals and six wins in 11 events.

CU's men's open 8, men's novice 8, men's second novice 8, women's novice 8 and women's second novice 8 all finished first in their events while men's open novice 4 finished first and second.

Women's open 4 and women's collegiate both finished second in their competitions.

Men's open pairs, men's open 4 and women's open pairs all grabbed first and second place finishes

The Buffs will now head inside for indoor training before the season resumes on Apr. 16 at the Southern Collegiate Rowing Association Regatta in Oak Ridge, Tenn.

Frostbite Regatta Results for Colorado

Men’s Open 2nd Novice 8: 1st
Women’s 1st Open Novice 8: 1st

Men’s Open 8: 1st (The first time since 2006!)

Men’s 1st Open Novice 8: 1st (By 46 seconds!)
Women’s 2nd Open Novice 8: 1st
Men’s Open Novice 4: 1st, 2nd

Women’s Open 4: 2nd

Women’s Collegiate 8: 2nd
Men’s Open Pairs: 2nd, 3rd
Men’s Open Four: 2nd, 3rd
Women’s Open Pair: 2nd, 3rd

Colorado Crew website: http://www.colorado.edu/StudentGroups/coloradocrew/index.html

Men's Rugby Loses By Inches to CSU at Infinity Park

GLENDALE, Colo. (10/30/10) – The Colorado Buffaloes men’s rugby team ended their fall season on Saturday afternoon with a 32-29 loss to the Colorado State Rams in the Colorado Rugby Cup at Infinity Park.

Colorado State held the lead for the entire game and was up 32-17 with about 10 minutes left in regulation, but CU battled back beginning in the 73^rd minute as Harry Mcelroy grabbed a good pass from Lance King and pushed his way across the goal line for the try. Austin Lewis successfully made the conversion kick to make it a 32-24 game.

                                        

Five minutes later in the 78th minute the Buffs cut the Rams lead to three with Nick Stuebe scoring the try after he received a great pitch from Chris Martin deep in the Rams zone.

In second half injury time CU was once again knocking on CSU’s door, but Tony Quattrini was called for a knock on and loss possession as he was crossing the goal line to end the game and give the Rams the victory.

Though Colorado didn’t score on that final drive, CU associate head coach Jim Snyder said he liked what he saw from his team.

“I saw a never say die attitude, we kept coming and took it down to the final play at the very last second,” Snyder said. “I’m really proud of the guys for never giving up and fighting to the very end. We came out on the backside of a loss but it’s not from a lack of effort.”

Colorado had the opportunity to tie the game on their last drive down the field after being awarded a penalty kick, but the CU coaching staff elected to go for the win instead.

The Buffs had won the previous three meetings against the Rams prior to Saturday’s loss.

CU finished the fall season with a 6-2 record with their only losses coming from Colorado State on Saturday and from Air Force in Wyoming during the Jackalope Tournament on Sept. 11.

Other than Mcelroy and Stuebe, Brian Bei had two trys for Colorado and Shane Milek also found his way across the goal line. Milek finished the night 1-for-2 on conversion kicks as well.

The Rams jumped out to an early lead in the match with Mikey Garrity scoring in the 8th minute, but Ryan Walker missed the tough angle conversion kick to only give CSU the 5-0 advantage.

Walker made up for the miss kick four minutes later with a successfully made a three-point penalty kick, extending the Rams lead to eight.

Bei finally got Colorado on the scoreboard with a try in the 24^th minute after the Buffs caught the Rams off guard following a scrum. Milek would miss the conversion kick.

The Rams had possession on the Buffs side of the field for the majority of the first half and took advantage of CU failing to clear the ball deep in their own zone. CSU gained possession off of a Buffs turnover and a few plays later Sam Warren pounded his way in for the try in the 28^th minute. The Rams would only be able to get five points out of the score with Walker missing his second conversion kick of the game.

Down 13-5, Colorado finished the first half strong with a last second try in injury time by Milek. Milek would also split the uprights in the conversion kick to cut the Rams lead to one after the first half.

In the second half, the Rams extended their lead once again, but this time to 15 after trys from Warren and Patrick Kobilca and two successful conversion kicks by Walker.

Bei scored a try for Colorado in the 61st minute but Chris Martin missed the conversion kick, giving CSU a 10 point lead.

After another CSU try and a missed conversion kick to make it a 32-17 game, the Buffs came stampeding back with trys from Mcelroy and Stuebe in the final 10 minutes, but CU came up just a few inches short as they were driving for the game winning score.

Colorado will now prepare for the new USA Rugby College Premiere League which begins in March. The Buffs will begin try outs for their spring squad beginning next week.

Scoring Summary

First Half

8' - CSU Mikey Garrity Try, Ryan Walker conversion kick - missed, 0-5 CSU

12' - CSU Ryan Walker penalty kick - good, 0-8 CSU

24' - CU Brian Bei Try, Shane Milek conversion kick - missed, 5-8 CSU

28' - CSU Sam Warren Try, Ryan Walker conversion kick - missed, 5-13 CSU

40+’ - CU Shane Milek Try, Shane Milek conversion kick - good, 12-13 CSU

Second Half

53’ - CSU Sam Warren Try, Ryan Walker conversion kick - good, 12-20 CSU

57’ – CSU Patrick Kobilca Try, Ryan Walker conversion kick - good, 12-27 CSU

61’ - CU Brian Bei Try, Chris Martin conversion kick - missed, 17-27 CSU

69’ - CSU Nicholas Interdonato Try, Ryan Walker conversion kick - missed, 17-32 CSU

73' - CU Harry Mcelroy Try, Austin Lewis conversion kick - good, 24-32 CSU

78' - CU Nick Stuebe Try, Austin Lewis conversion kick - missed, 29-32 CSU

Watch the postgame interview with Colorado associate head coach Jim Snyder at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXralRzfva8

Men's Hockey Falls to Colorado State at the Pepsi Center

DENVER (10/30/10) – Alex Lencioni scored two goals and had one assist for the University of Colorado hockey team but the Colorado State Rams still defeated the Buffaloes 6-3 on Friday night at the Pepsi Center.

“It’s nice to score goals but it’s better to win games,” Lencioni said. “Personally it’s alright, but I would rather come out with the ‘W’.”

The loss drops CU’s record to 5-3-0-1 on the year while CSU improves to 6-3 on the season.

J.P. Park also had a goal and an assist for the Buffs while Bill Haege, Mark Viau and Scott Seale all finished the evening with one assist. Goaltender Kevin Litinsky made 19 saves in net for Colorado.

The Buffs jumped out to an early lead on the power play with Lencioni firing a wrist shot over the left shoulder of Rams goaltender John Miller for his fourth goal of the season at 4:01 in the first period.

CSU answered back with a Ben Smoot goal in which he poked the loose puck into the back of the net with nearly six minutes left in the first stanza.

Nearly eight minutes into the second period, Lencioni gave the Buffs back the lead with another wrist shot over Miller’s left shoulder while he was attacking the net from the right corner.

However CSU scored two goals in the period to take the 3-2 lead going into the locker room and then scored three more in the third before CU found the back of the net again with a power play goal from Park with 52 seconds remaining.

In the Rams five goal run, Kollin Vandersluis scored twice while Parker Harrison picked up three assists. Two of CSU’s goals during that stretch came on the power play while they also scored a shorthanded goal to begin the run by Schermerhorn midway through the second period.

Colorado head coach Ken Fikis said Schermerhorn’s goal in which he grabbed the loose puck at center ice and had a breakaway on the CU net was the turning point in the game.

“We were up 2-1 and we got the power play and we were hoping that we could break the game open with a goal and we gave up a softy,” Fikis said. “All of a sudden it is 2-2, they have momentum and they came right back at us.”

The Rams finished the evening 2-for-7 on the power play while the Buffs went 2-for-6 with the extra attacker on the ice.

CU outshot CSU 33-25 in the contest, including 17-11 in the third period, but they couldn’t find the answer on how to get the puck past Miller. The CSU goalie made 30 saves on the night and played brilliant in the second half of the game with him only allowing Park’s goal in the final minute of regulation.

The Buffs won’t have to wait long to attempt to get their revenge over the Rams as the two schools will meet in the second of four meetings this season on Friday at 7:30 p.m. at EPIC Ice Arena in Fort Collins. CU and CSU will also play on Feb. 4 at the Budweiser Event Center in Loveland and on Feb. 11 in Boulder.

Lencioni said that if the team can clean up some of the mistakes that they made, especially on special teams, that they’ll be able to get the win next weekend against the Rams.

“We need to come out and have a couple of tough practices, stay mentally strong, work on some stuff that we were lacking today,” Lencioni said. “Maybe work on the penalty kill a little bit, work on the power play, we had some power play opportunities that we need to capitalize on. Just keep moving our feet and have some good practices.”

Colorado’s next home game in Boulder will be the front half of a home-and-home series against the University of Northern Colorado on Nov. 12 at 6:15 p.m. at the CU Ice Arena.

Scoring Summary

First Period

4:01 CU Alex Lencioni, assisted by Bill Haege – PP

13:59 CSU Ben Smoot, assisted by Brendan McCarthy and Matt Fulcoly

Second Period

7:49 CU Alex Lencioni, assisted by Mark Viau and J.P. Park

8:36 CSU Casey Schermerhorn, unassisted – SH

17:50 CSU Kollin Vandersluis, assisted by Parker Harrison and Paul Jenkins

Third Period

2:39 CSU Kollin Vandersluis, assisted by Parker Harrison and Paul Jenkins – PP

4:26 CSU Austin Burgh, assisted by Parker Harrison – PP

14:04 CSU Eric Waring, assisted by Tappan Brown and Casey Schermerhorn

19:08 CU J.P. Park, assisted by Alex Lencioni and Scott Seale – PP

Shots

CSU – 25

CU – 33

Power plays

CSU – 2-for-7

CU – 2-for-6

Men's JV Hockey Defeats CSU in Overtime

DENVER (10/29/10) – Zach Lass scored 1:12 into overtime to lift the Colorado Buffaloes D-III junior varsity hockey team past the Colorado State Rams 3-2 on Friday night at the Pepsi Center.

Colorado gained a 4-on-3 power play early in the overtime period and Lass didn’t waste any time in taking advantage of it as he shot the puck off of the CSU goaltender, swung at his own rebound in mid air and put the puck in the back of the net for the game winner.

Lass also had an assist in the game.

The victory improves the Buffs record to 4-1 on the season while the Rams fall to 5-2 on the year.

Nick Carey and Nick Lafrinere also scored for CU while Andrew Nelson, Tony Munoff, Christian Matta and Brennan Stieneker added assists

Colorado State took the first lead in the game with Brian Pekara scoring with 10 seconds left in the first period, but Colorado quickly tied it up in the second stanza with Carey scoring at 1:25.

Kyle Daugherty gave the Rams back the lead with 4:10 left in the second but Lafrinere retied the contest with 50 seconds before the intermission.

After a scoreless third period, the game went to a 4-on-4 overtime where Lass and the Buffs ended the contest quickly after the Rams took an early penalty.

The Buffs will return to Boulder on Saturday night where they’ll host the Wyoming Cowboys at 7:30 p.m. at the CU Ice Arena.

CU and CSU will next play each other on Nov. 13 at EPIC Ice Arena in Fort Collins.

Scoring Summary

First Period

19:50 CSU Brian Pekara, assisted by Zach Richardson and #13

Second Period

1:25 CU Nick Carey, assisted by Andrew Nelson and Tony Munoff

15:50 CSU Kyle Daugherty, assisted by Andrew Hasse and Ethan Jervik

19:05 CU Nick Lafrinere, assisted by Zach Lass and Christian Matta

Third Period

No Scoring

Overtime

1:12 Zach Lass, assisted by Brennan Stieneker