PUEBLO, Colo. – Playing an NCAA Division II turned out to be the challenge that the difference in competition levels would suggest, but Argo lacrosse's 24-4 loss to CSU-Pueblo still provided some encouraging moments and valuable learning opportunities.
"I think we learned the speed that the game needs to be played with. I think we learned that we need to improve our stick skills a lot," Boekel said. "That's the difference between them and us: much better stick skills and more speed."
Those two factors meant a significant margin in just about every major statistical category. The Thunderbirds had 46 shots to UGF's 17, committed 17 turnovers to UGF's 34, and grabbed 42 ground balls to UGF's 17.
The one crucial area where the Argos weren't out matched was at the faceoff X, where freshman
Dante Duran won almost half of his battles, 9-22. It wasn't just winning the faceoffs that was an improvement for that particular unit. In its first game of the season two days earlier, UGF allowed a number of fastbreak goals off of last faceoffs. That didn't happen against the Thunderbirds.
"We never gave up a fastbreak on faceoffs. Every faceoff was contested," Boekel said. "I think we could have been a little better with our groundballs on the wing play, but other than that, it was definitely one of our bright spots."
The other bright spot was the play of UGF's special team's units. All 4 Argo goals came with uneven numbers on the field. The first 3 goals came on extra man opportunities, including one early in the third quarter and early in the fourth quarter.
UGF's fourth goal was on an EMO, but their EMO. Instead, junior attack
Josh Smith managed an unassisted goal while UGF was a man down.
His goal was the final act of an offense that got better as the game went on, even though CSUP didn't give its starters much rest.
"I think by the end of the game, we kind of figured out a little better where we needed to go with the ball to be successful," Boekel said.
Smith was a large part of that offensive improvement, scoring all of UGF's final 3 goals.
The Argos are 1-2 on the season after playing three games in three days. The team will get 11 days of rest before traveling to Ellensburg, Washington on March 18 for its first league game of the season against Central Washington University.
