Talk about a weekend of firsts for the Texas lacrosse team.

No. 18 Texas made its first roadtrip of the season and played its first ranked opponents when it traveled to St. Louis last weekend.

Unfortunately, the Longhorns also lost their first game of the year when they fell to eleventh-ranked Colorado State 12-6 on Saturday night.

The final score was not indicative of how close the competition was for the majority of the game. The Horns reached the scoreboard first but gave up four straight goals in the second quarter to enter the break down 3-6.

Nevertheless, they never trailed by more tan three tallies until late in the fourth quarter when a surge of goals by CSU gave the Rams a sizeable lead.

Despite missing a number of starters, Texas came close to nipping Colorado State, a team that narrowly lost to No. 2 Chapman at last year’s national tournament and is currently undefeated. Attackman Charles Fraser led the way with three points off one goal and two assists.

Texas also dropped a close one to No. 17 Lindenwood on Sunday by the score of 12-10. In a back and forth battle that saw both teams build early leads, only to have them erased later on, neither squad could establish dominance.

Again lacking some crucial starters due to injury, the Longhorns nevertheless came out of the gates swinging.

Texas scored first but a trio of man-up goals gave the Lions a 3-1 advantage after 15 minutes. In the second period, the Horns came roaring back and outscored their opponents 3-1 to enter the break down by just a goal.

The third quarter was even more dramatic as Texas tied the game just minutes in only to fall behind 10-9 at the end of the quarter. Lindenwood held on, despite some close shots by the Horns, and the final score dealt the Horns their second loss of the season.

The Longhorns return to practice this week as they prepare for their second conference game of the season at Baylor on Thursday.

By Will Anderson