Rams Upended by #13 Sonoma State
Fort Collins, COLO – The 13th ranked Sonoma State Seawolves scored the final three goals of the game to steal a road win against #3 Colorado State on Friday night at CSU. The Rams led 8-6 with 8:50 remaining, but strong face-off play by Sonoma eventually wore CSU down and the Seawolves struck for the game-winner with just :43 remaining to secure the 9-8 upset.
GAME STATS »»
CSU led for much of the evening after jumping on the board with two man-up goals early in the contest. The Rams were up 3-1 at one point before Sonoma answered back with two of their own to tie the score at three a piece after one quarter.
The second quarter was fast-paced as well as CSU jumped ahead 5-3 late in the period. After Sonoma scored to make it a one-goal game, sophomore Ashton Monheiser (Mountain Vista HS; Highlands Ranch, CO) got the lead back to two on a man-up goal late in the period. CSU went into the halftime break up 6-4.
Sonoma scored the only goal of the third quarter just :24 in off a broken play on the face-off and then tied the game early in the fourth. CSU had two big goals to push out to a 8-6 lead, but Sonoma made the crucial plays down the stretch and got the final three goals of the game to get the victory. Tyler Yanamoto came off a screen from up top and ripped home a bouncer for the game-winner with just :43 left on the clock and a last-second chance by CSU wasn’t in time.
The story of the game was told at the face-off ‘x,’ where Sonoma’s Nicolas Scaramella was dominant on the evening, securing 16 of 20 draws and picking up 12 groundballs. His play helped Sonoma to a decisive edge on groundballs as the Seawolves picked up 35 to just 17 for the Rams.
Yanamoto led all scorers with three goals while Brad Bochesa had two goals and one assist for Somona State. CSU had a two goal, one assist performance from freshman Collin Zines (San Clemente HS; San Clemente, CA) and two points each from Monheiser, Jake Johnson (El Toro HS / Bridgton Academy; Lake Forest, CA) and Brian McGhie (Thompson Valley HS; Loveland, CO).
Colorado State falls to 5-2 and loses their second straight game with the loss. The Rams will face-off against another ranked opponent on Sunday as the #22 Florida State Seminoles come to town on Sunday afternoon. Florida State fell in a tight one to #1 Colorado by a score of 17-15 on Friday night. Sonoma will play the Buffaloes on Sunday as well.