Contact CU Independent Sports Writer Kevin Pankow at Kevin.Pankow@colorado.edu.
The No. 3 University of Colorado men’s club lacrosse team (3-1) defeated No. 18 Boise State (5-3) on Sunday afternoon, marking three straight wins for the Buffaloes after losing their season opener to Grand Canyon University.
Colorado defeated the Broncos 12-11 thanks to junior midfielder Jake Gonzales’ go-ahead goal with 30 seconds remaining in the game. Gonzales ended the day with a hat-trick.
The game was a back and forth battle between the two teams from the first whistle. Colorado jumped out to a 5-3 lead in the first quarter behind two goals from sophomore attackman Carter Esqueda.
But miscommunication by CU and a timeout late in the first quarter from Boise State allowed the Broncos to tie the game at six going into the second quarter.
Sophomore goalie Jensen Makarov finished with a total of 17 saves on the day for Colorado, and 11 goals scored against him.
Both teams continued to trade off goals during the second quarter. Senior midfielder Hunter Molnar and Gonzales both scored their second goals of the game in the second quarter which gave the Buffaloes a 9-7 lead going into halftime.
CU had a total of 40 shots on the game, 20 in each half.
The Buffaloes began the second half well, a trait they lacked in a win against Oregon on Friday night. Sophomore attacker Ben Wharton was the only Buff to score in the third quarter, giving him a hat-trick and adding two more goals to give Colorado an 11-7 lead.
But Boise State managed to score three unanswered goals at the end of the quarter, cutting CU’s lead to 11-10 going into the final quarter of play.
Despite that the Buffs were down a couple of players early in the fourth quarter, they managed to maintain possession for the majority of the period.
Boise State rallied during the final minutes and scored the game-tying goal with a minute and a half remaining, leveling the score at 11 apiece. With 30 seconds left in the game, Gonzales saved the day with his game-winning goal edging Colorado to a 12-11 victory over Boise State.
The Buffs next play at 7 p.m. on Friday, March 11 at No. 15 San Diego State.
