DRAPER8212;The BYU-Utah Lacrosse Classic lived up to its name as No. 3 BYU beat Utah in classic BYU fashion by a score of 14-5.
Neither team was able to score in the first half of the first quarter but with 7 minutes 41 seconds left in the quarter, BYU mid?elder Drew Shumway found the back of the net and gave the Cougars an early lead. Thirty-nine seconds later, BYU attackman Justin Hier scored to give BYU a two-goal lead. Shumway and Hier continued to score, giving the Cougars a 6-0 lead at halftime.
BYU started the second half where it left off, going on a 3-0 run. Utah put a wrench in BYU’s quest for a shutout, however, as the Utes scored five straight goals to bring the score to 9-5.
The five-goal run started when BYU failed to clear the ball and Utah attackman Ryan Watts scooped it up in front of the goal. Watts found himself one on one with BYU goalie Will Hilton and managed to find a seam and put the ball in the back of the net to give Utah its first goal of the game. Utah mid?elder Mike Calvert scored from the top of the box and was followed by a hat trick from mid?elder Matt Qualey.
“We looked lost,” said BYU head coach Jason Lamb. “For about five minutes we didn’t know where we were and we let them score five goals.”
BYU wouldn’t let the Utes all the way back in the game and had a 5-0 run to end the game with a final score of 14-5.
“Again, we got hurt in transition,” said Utah head coach Craig Morris. “I thought we played pretty well in settled situations.”
Depending on what happens in Saturday’s game between Colorado State and Colorado, BYU (14-3, 4-1) could enter the playoffs as the No. 1 or No. 2 seed8212;No. 2 if Colorado beats Colorado State and No. 1 if Colorado State beats Colorado, based on the tie-breaking rules for the Rocky Mountain Lacrosse Conference.
Utah (6-7, 2-3) will enter the playoffs as the No. 4 seed and will play the No. 1 seed on Friday.