March 1, 2000 - The Cossacks broke a habit of starting slowly by scoring the first goal of the game in 11 seconds and followed up with three more goals in the next five minutes to take a 4-0 lead before Michigan stopped the bleeding by scoring off a pass that was redirected by an SSU defenseman's stick to a Michigan player standing on crease. SSU finished the quarter with a goal by M.J. Crickmore with :06 left on the clock, allowing SSU to take a 5-1 lead at the break.

By the time the second quarter started, 21 days of rain in February started to take its toll on the field. The game became very ugly as the mud puddles grew and the uniforms for both teams turned brown. SSU opened the second quarter by stretching its lead to 6-1 before Michigan answered with its second goal of the game. The first half ended with a strange course of events. With :09 on the clock, SSU called for a timeout to set up a play before time expired. After four seconds had burned off the clock and half of the play was completed, the referee calls SSU for not having enough men on the field, an honest mistake considering the conditions of both team's uniforms. With only five seconds left in the half, the game was restarted, SSU continued with its play, and freshman Jason Wollert scored with :01 left on the clock, igniting the fans as well as the Sonoma bench. As the half came to an end,SSU was leading 7-2.

The third and fourth quarter were both extremely ugly as the field conditions worsened and play ground to a snail's pace. With little traction, the defenses were unable to pressure the ball and both offenses were content to maintain long periods of possession. Both teams scored once each in both the third and fourth quarters to finish with a final score of 9-4 in favor of the Cossacks. SSU was lead in scoring by Brett Flynn (3g/1a) and M.J. Crickmore (2g/2a)

The game ball was awarded to Michael John Crickmore who, in addition to having four points, played extremely tough on face-offs and gathered a large number of ground balls in very adverse conditions. Also, M.J. scored with :06 second to play in the 1st quarter and assisted Jason Wollert's goal with :01 seconds to play in the 2nd.

SSU's Next Game is against USLIA #1 and defending National Champion Colorado State, 1:00 pm Saturday, March 4th at Sonoma State University.

Michael John Crickmore turns the corner on Arizona's Chris Thomas in SSU's 10-6 victory over the 'Cats on February 13th

Photo by Jim Everett