CSU Rams Release 2013 Spring Schedule

Fort Collins, CO – Coming off their first MCLA national championship since 2006, the Colorado State Rams have announced an ambitious and challenging schedule for the 2013 campaign. In addition to featuring eight teams ranked in the Nike/Inside Lacrosse MCLA Coaches’ poll at the conclusion of last season and seven teams who competed at the MCLA national championships in May, the schedule will include seven grueling back-to-backs on either Friday/Saturday or Saturday/Sunday throughout the year.

The Rams will open at home with scrimmages against MCLA Div. II Northern Colorado and NCAA Div. II Colorado Mesa University on Feb. 16 and 17. CSU then has a quick weekend of Rocky Mountain Lacrosse Conference play with home games against MCLA Div. II Westminster College, a team that will be joining Division I in 2014, and Utah State on Feb. 22 and 23.

After the four-game opening homestand, the Rams hit the road for the first of two major out of conference trips on the season. CSU will be in Las Vegas, NV over the weekend of Mar. 2 and Mar. 3 to take on UC-Santa Barbara and UNLV. The game against the Gauchos will be a rematch of CSU’s 6-3 MCLA quarterfinal victory in Greenville, SC last year and the continuation of a terrific non-conference rivalry that has stretched back to the late 1990’s. CSU has never faced UNLV in MCLA play and will be looking forward to taking on their long-time Mountain West Conference rival in lacrosse.

Returning for another three-game home stretch on short rest, the Rams will face a brutal three games in four days against three premiere MCLA programs as Loyola Marymount, Simon Fraser, and Virginia Tech come to town on Mar. 7, 9, and 10 respectively. It will be the first home game for the Rams against LMU in nearly a decade. Simon Fraser’s visit will mark the fourth straight year the Rams and Clan have met in the regular season, while CSU has not met Virginia Tech in a regular season game since a neutral site affair in 2003.

The Rams are back on the road over the weekend of Mar. 16 and 17, paying a visit for the first time in team history to Chicago, IL to take on Michigan State University and Minnesota-Duluth at Benedictine University. The games against the conference champions of the CCLA and UMLC respectively will be extremely challenging for CSU and very important in deciding potential tournament seeds later down the line.
After a weekend off, the Rams will host Chapman University on campus Monday, Mar. 25. CSU and Chapman have been going at it with regularity over the past several years, meeting in Oregon in 2012, Colorado in 2011, and California in 2009. It will be the second time in series history that the two teams have met on a Monday night in Fort Collins and the atmosphere is sure to be electric on campus.

CSU is off for Easter Weekend before entering the meat of its RMLC schedule with a trip to Utah for games against long-time rival Brigham Young University in Provo on Friday, Apr. 5 and then fellow RMLC foe Utah in Salt Lake City on Apr. 6. In the MCLA’s premiere rivalry, CSU and BYU are 5-5 against each other since 2009 and have defeated each other in the two previous MCLA semifinal contests. The Rams got the better of the Cougars in the 2012 MCLA semis after BYU ended CSU’s season in 2011.

Colorado State wraps up its home schedule with one last back-to-back event on the weekend of Apr. 12 and 13. The Rams will face the University of Georgia on Friday night and then take on RMLC opponent New Mexico on Saturday. CSU has not faced either opponent in sanctioned MCLA play. The game against Georgia will be held in Highlands Ranch, CO at Shea Stadium as part of the team’s 5th Hall of Fame Celebration.

Finally, the Rams conclude the regular season schedule with their annual rivalry contest against the University of Colorado in the Rocky Mountain Lacrosse Showdown. CSU has come out on top of the Showdown in every year except for 2009, but the last several have been extremely close, particularly 2011’s double overtime thriller. This year’s location will be announced in the coming months.
For stats, pictures, news and more, follow CSU men’s lacrosse at www.csulacrosse.com all season long!

Date Opponent Site Time
Feb. 16 NORTHERN COLORADO Loveland, CO 1:00pm
Feb. 17 COLORADO MESA (NCAA Div. II) Loveland, CO 1:00pm
Feb. 22 UTAH STATE* Loveland, CO 7:00pm
Feb. 23 WESTMINSTER Loveland, CO 4:00pm
Mar. 2 vs. UC-Santa Barbara Las Vegas, NV 1:00pm
Mar. 3 @ UNLV Las Vegas, NV 2:00pm
Mar. 7 LOYOLA MARYMOUNT Loveland, CO 5:00pm
Mar. 9 SIMON FRASER Loveland, CO 4:00pm
Mar. 10 VIRGINIA TECH Loveland, CO 5:00pm
Mar. 16 vs. Michigan State Lisle, IL 5:00pm
Mar. 17 vs. Minnesota-Duluth Lisle, IL 5:00pm
Mar. 25 CHAPMAN Fort Collins, CO 7:00pm
Apr. 5 @Brigham Young* Provo, UT 7:00pm
Apr. 6 @ Utah* Salt Lake City, UT 2:00pm
Apr. 12 GEORGIA^ Highlands Ranch, CO 7:00pm
Apr. 13 NEW MEXICO* Fort Collins, CO 4:00pm
Apr. 20 @ Colorado*$ TBD, CO 6:00pm
May 3-4 RMLC League Tournament Grand Junction, CO TBD
May 13-20 MCLA National Tournament Greenville, SC TBD

* Denotes RMLC Conference Game
^ Denotes CSULAA Hall of Fame Game
$ Denotes Rocky Mountain Lacrosse Showdown

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