The University of Utah lacrosse team started their season at Rice-Eccles Stadium on Saturday, Feb. 1, where they took home a 16-10 win. The Utes took on the Bellarmine Knights from Kentucky.

Last season, the Utes went 5-10-0 for their first season in Division 1 lacrosse. After the addition of Ute Field this year, the lacrosse team will have a new home rather than playing at Judge Memorial Catholic High School. The team plays at Rice-Eccles when snow is expected because it’s much easier to plow, but the sun was shining on Saturday for a perfect day of lacrosse. Last year when the two teams faced, the Utes were able to pull out the win 10-9.

Utah was hitting on all cylinders today as they had 48 shots, caused 9 turnovers, won 17 face offs and had 35 ground balls. Senior Jimmy Perkins scored the most goals for the Utes with four. 

“It was a great start to the season. The guys have been ready for this day for a long time,” Perkins said. “The best part of today was that we had ten different goal scorers, guys coming up with big plays all over, so it was great to get the season started off on the right foot.” 

Transfer senior Colin Burke tabbed two goals and four assists, giving him six points to lead the team. Josh Stout tallied two goals and two assists for four points. Branden Wilson also had two goals. 

“Here’s what I know about this team, that performance is what I expect” head coach Brian Holman said. “I expect a lot of energy, passion, guys to play really, really hard, and we expect to have fun. I’m really excited for this season, looking up in the stands and seeing all those little kids there, man that’s what this is about.”

The Utes scored four goals in the first and really got their momentum going. When the second came around, they pulled out six more. Things slowed down a little more after halftime, with three goals in both the third and fourth. Liam Donnelly was the goaltender for the majority of the game and came out with 9 saves and .500 save percentage.  

Up next Utah will head to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania to take on the Lehigh Hawks at 11 a.m. on Feb. 8. The Utes will be back home the following weekend to take on Air Force on Feb. 15 at 12 p.m. in Rice-Eccles Stadium.

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