COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (February 20^th, 2016)-The 2016 season kicked off on Saturday for the Adams State University Grizzlies men's lacrosse team when they traveled to Colorado Springs to face-off against the Colorado College Tigers. The Grizzlies were unable to over come a strong CC unit, as they dropped their season opener 14-7.

The first period of play saw Seth Stowell win the faceoff, but a strong Tigers defense would prevent the Grizzlies from capitalizing. Colorado College would then take control of the game, with Tyler Borko drawing the first blood with 11:17 remaining in the period. Just minutes later the Tigers would take a 3-0 lead with goals from Robert Stern and Austin Davie.

With the first Adams State goal coming from Drew Kerigan at the 8:43 mark of the first, the Grizzlies would cut the Tigers' lead to 3-1.

Unfortunately the Grizzlies were unable to get anything going, as CC opened up the lead to 6-1 before Adams State would once again find the net. Reece Sullivan would score his first goal as a Grizzly, off of an assist by Collin Cranfield with thirty-nine seconds before half time. Borko would score his third goal of the period for Colorado College to extend their lead to 7-2 over the Grizzlies going into the second quarter of play.

The Tigers would tack on three more goals to start the second quarter of play, to make the score 10-2 before the Grizzlies would find the back of the net. Morgan Osbourne would also score his first goal for the Green & White, as he scored Adams State's third goal of the contest with 7:51 left to go. Almost a minute later, Joe Quatrochi added one more to the Grizzlies' score off of an assist by Derek Bill. At the half, the score would be 10-4.

To start the third quarter, Boroko would continue to be a bother for the Grizzly defense as he score his fourth goal of the game at the 10:15 mark. This would put the Tigers up 11-4, but Adams State would answer back with Nik Clinton scoring the Grizzlies' fifth goal off of an assist by Alan Koenig. WIth 7:30 left before the final stanza of the contest, Clinton's goal brought the score to 11-5.

However, CC would answer back to make the score 12-5 with 4:44 left off of a goal by Davie to take the game into the final quarter.

Davie would net a quick goal to get the fourth quarter started to put the Tigers up 13-5, but Richard Morrison would answer right back for the Grizzlies to make the score 13-6, with 7:41 left in the contest. Colorado College would then net their final goal with Stern finding the back of the net with just under five and a half minutes left.

Osbourne would find Daniel Krieble for an assist and the last goal of the game with 2:09 left.

Sullivan, Osbourne, and Clinton all found the net to tally their first goals as Grizzlies, while Johnson would tally 12 saves on the day in his Grizzly debut.

"We were a little sluggish and came out a little nervous I think in the first quarter." said Head Coach Jason Levesque on the Grizzlies season opener, "With so many freshmen in the line up, our staff was a little worried about our start. After we settled in, we played a tight game. However, the deficit was too much to overcome. I'm proud of our guys for competing for the remaining three quarters."

The Grizzlies will next be in action on March 6^th, when they travel to Kansas City, Missouri to take on Rockhurst University in a Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) match up. The game is slated to begin at 1:00 pm.

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