SALT LAKE CITY (3/11/11) – In their first of back-to-back games this weekend, the No.6 Colorado Buffaloes men’s lacrosse team edged the No. 11 Utah Utes 13-9 at Spence Eccles Field House on Friday night.
Colorado improves to 2-0 on the season and 1-0 in the Rocky Mountain Lacrosse Conference while Utah falls to 4-3 overall and 0-1 in conference play.
Utah midfielder Danny Polityka led the charge for his team with a five goal, one assist night, but CU attackman A.J. Blackburn better Polityka's performance as he led the Buffs with five goals and two assists.
Colorado’s pressure on Utah was key to Buffs’ victory as they forced turnovers consistently throughout the contest. Another factor in the game was CU goaltender Bradley Macnee, whom head coach Mike Ryder said played extraordinary in his second game of the year.
“While Blackburn put numbers on the board, our goalie stood on his head today,” Ryder said of Macnee, who finished with 12 saves. “He made some big saves today and he’s going to have to do that all year if we’re really going to be strong on defense.”
The Buffs will have another tough challenge on Saturday when they head to Provo, Utah to face the No. 4 Brigham Young Cougars at 7 p.m. to wrap up their Utah road trip. BYU defeated CU 10-8 in the first round of the RMLC Playoffs last season.
Collegelax’s Tim Haslam contributed to this story
