“I’m really impressed with some of our back up guys out there,” said Colorado head coach Mike Ryder. “They really showed a lot of confidence in what we do. We had a lot of stuff from everybody all over the place. It is a nice home atmosphere to start our season off on the right note because we spend a lot of time on the road this year.”
The team looked dominant from the opening faceoff and never looked back as they executed an impressive offensive scheme from the get-go.
Colin Rosenblum was among those leading the charge for Colorado; the senior shooter tallied three goals in the game but certainly wasn’t the only threat. Freshman attackman Tyler Dougherty also secured a hat trick in his first game after spending last season on the Buffs’ practice squad.
Senior A.J. Blackburn, a notable threat in front of the crease for the Buffs for several seasons, played the role of playmaker rather than shooter against Kansas. He finished with five assists as he set up his teammates for goals all game long.
Hap Knowles began Colorado’s siege on the net early on, scoring just over two minutes into the contest. The Buffaloes maintained possession for the majority of the quarter and put the pressure on the Jayhawks defense early. CU put seven additional points on the scoreboard before the quarter ended. Rosenblum and Dougherty each scored twice in the stanza while Fred Reisen, Ryan Emerson and Thomas Appel also found the back of the net.
Colorado continued their surge into the second quarter as they scored five additional goals and took the 13-0 lead at halftime. Kansas’ offense finally got things rolling in the second half with goals by senior attackman Francis Enright and sophomore midfielder Jack Faerber.
The Jayhawks would tack on a final goal in the fourth from Nick Troll, but Colorado tagged on two more of their own to win the game by 14.
It was the first regular season game for the Buffs since the departure of several key players that contributed to the team’s improbable run last year in which they won four of their final five games to earn a berth in the national championships. The losses include midfielder Tyler Snyder, long poles Marty Taffet and Mike Geocaris and faceoff specialist Aaron Gray. Those holes in CU’s game seemed successfully filled in Sunday’s matchup as the Buffs outshot the Jayhawks and won 15-of-24 faceoffs.
Kansas falls to 3-4 on the season and will now head home to host the St. Cloud State Huskies on Mar. 11 at 7 p.m. The Buffs meanwhile will have a few days off before traveling to Utah to take on the No. 16 Utah Utes on Friday Mar. 11 and the No. 4 Brigham Young Cougars on Saturday Mar. 12.
Watch the postgame interview with head coach Mike Ryder at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=888jWk-HWmQ&feature=channel_video_title
Listen to the archived audio broadcast of Sunday’s game at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/cu-buffs-lacrosse
Men’s Lacrosse website: www.culax.org
