Missing two key players, the No. 6 Laxcats lose to No. 2 Colorado State 6-5

Down a goal, with possession and 21 seconds left on the clock, the men's lacrosse had a shot against to No. 2 Colorado State, but came up short.

The No. 6 Laxcats (2-1, 2-0), were essentially without two main offensive weapons, senior midfielder Bryan Moore who was again hobbled by strained calf and senior attackman Josh Morrison missed the last three quarters with a concussion.

Head coach Adam Hopkins said the game went exactly how he thought it would. The Laxcats executed their game plan "perfectly" but in the end, Arizona couldn't find the net to force overtime.

"I think we played very well; a couple shots just didn't fall how we would have liked them too," Hopkins said. "I thought the defense played phenomenally. I thought the team played great, we were one goal away pretty much without the services of Josh Morrison and Bryan Moore, our top two guys."

Just like last week when he scored three important goals to help the Laxcats comeback against LMU while being hobbled, Moore scored a goal falling down in the fourth quarter to bring Arizona back into the game after the Rams stretched their lead to 6-4 early in the fourth quarter.

"He tried to play as much as he could but he was injured the whole time," Hopkins said.

After trailing 5-3 at the half, Arizona, controlled the possession and put itself in a position to tie the game, but could not complete the comeback.

"We buckled down (in the second half) and we played really well. Our shots just didn't fall, it's going happen," Hopkins said. "We just gotta come back next week and make sure we get better each day, make sure we grow from this and learn from this and we don't just forget about it."

The whole defense, backed by goalie Sean Koffel who had 12 saves and a .667 save percentage, played well against CSU's vaunted offense, Hopkins said.

"You look at our entire starting defense and that's who stepped up," Hopkins said.

This week the Laxcats have a bye, followed by a home tilt against Arizona State next Friday, the beginning of a stretch of six games in 10 days.