The Colorado College men’s lacrosse team faced off against in-state rival Colorado Mesa University this past Saturday. CC used a late-game surge to fight back in the fourth quarter and take the game 13-9. The Tigers used two goals from junior midfielder Eric Neumeyer in the final minutes to tie the game and spark a comeback. Senior midfielder Gray Ritger began the rebound with only 7:40 left in the game. Both Neumeyer and Ritger tallied five points on three goals and two assists each.
The team took on a long road trip to arrive in Durango for the 1 p.m. game on Saturday. Coach Woods elected to travel the team on the Friday night prior to the game, despite playing an in-state team. Senior midfielder Taylor Paul says the team used the eight hour drive to relax. “We watched Coach Woods’ comedies, so it lightened the mood. We just had a good time and came out with the win,” said Paul. Coach Woods is looking to tutor his students in more than way than lacrosse. He joked, “I get disappointed in my guys when they haven’t seen certain movies, so I’ve dusted some off for them.”
The team used the lighthearted mood going into the game to stay calm under the pressure of being down in the fourth quarter.
“Four goals down is when things can fall apart but instead we came together,” said Woods. “It was impressive to see us stick together even when we were down.”
Paul also credits the team play. “We focused on playing together as a team and coming back because we’ve had to come back from games before,” he said. “It was great to see it happen.”
With starting goalie Chase Murphy out for the game due to injury, the Tigers turned to senior Jack Roos who didn’t miss a beat. Woods credits Roos’ play to his preparedness. “We faced adversity with our starting goalie out and we came together,” said Woods. “Roos has been stepping up. We’ve been really impressed with his play. All three of our goalies have been playing really well.”
“The team came together during the game and started to find our identity,” Roo said.
The Tigers were up against a Colorado Mesa team with strong home field advantage. “We had to earn this victory. They were a very tough team,” said Woods. “The stats said they had about 600 people there.” A large crowd wasn’t enough to squelch the Tigers’ late game comeback, though.
Woods also mentioned the Tigers’ ability to learn from past games in their young season. “That was our first overall team win we’ve had. Sewanee was a loss where, quite frankly, the opposite happened. We played individualistically that day.”
The Tigers are looking to continue to grow and their recent successes. They’ll be back in action Thursday at 4 p.m. on Washburn Field.