The Ute lacrosse team finished its last home game in its fall-ball season with a 10-3 win over in-state rival Utah State last Sunday.
The Utes came out at a torrid pace and jumped ahead of the Aggies 2-0 in the first quarter. Despite the two-goal lead, Utah State’s goalie made several saves to prevent the Utes from increasing their lead further.
Utah State stepped up their defensive pressure in the second quarter, but the Utes still found ways to capitalize on Aggie mistakes.
While Utah State was trying to clear the ball from the defensive half of the field, U sophomore attackman, Pat Guinn pressured the Utah State goalie and forced him to drop the ball. Guinn picked up the ball and flipped it to senior defenseman Clint English, who was streaking down the middle of the field. English wound up and fired the ball into the back of the empty net. The Utes finished out the half with two more goals to take a 5-0 halftime lead.
For the Aggies, they managed to make the second half more competitive than the first by scoring three goals of their own, but they could not prevent the Utes from doubling their score and winning.
The Utes will finish up the fall-ball portion of the season this weekend as they head to the “Best of the West” tournament in Las Vegas. The Utes begin play on Friday night with a scrimmage against Cal Berkeley. Then on Saturday, the Utes will play Arizona State in the first round of the tournament, in search of a championship.
“We’re hoping for a strong showing and an opportunity to see some payoff for all of the hard work and effort we have given this fall,” head coach Rich Levi said. “We’re looking to cap off a stellar fall season on a high note.”
For Levi and his players, fall-ball accomplishes two goals. The first is to orient new players to Utah’s offensive and defensive sets. The second goal is to find out player weaknesses, so they can use the winter to improve upon those areas for the spring season.
Levi said the Utes have had a productive fall.
“We progressed very well,” Levi said. “We are a young team again this year, approximately half of the team are freshmen. Nonetheless, we are playing well together as a team and have been able to focus on minimizing our mistakes and learning how to capitalize on our aggressive playing style.”
The Utes are looking forward to the spring season and are hoping to improve their 7-8 record last year. Out of 120 teams in the Men’s Collegiate Lacrosse Association Division I, Utah finished ranked No. 19 last season.
“Last year we had a very tough strength of schedule and we do again this year,” Levi said. “However, we predict the team will come together well, and we’ll end up surprising some very good teams. Our depth on defense and goal tending has improved tremendously with some of our new recruits and we’re looking to be very competitive this year.”
Maegan BurrJeff Bail tries to move past a defender during a scrimmage. The Utes will be competing in the Best of the West tournament this weekend in Las Vegas.