After their close win against the Jacksonville Dolphins, Utah lacrosse clinched their second consecutive ASUN title, earning them a bid in the NCAA Lacrosse tournament.
First Half
The game started out positively for the Utes, with Ryan Stines nabbing the first goal for the Utes just three minutes in. Two minutes later he grabbed another, making it 2-0 for Utah. Jacksonville was quick to catch up, getting their first point with seven left in the first quarter. They found the back of the net again soon after, tying up the game to make it 2-2 at the end of the first.
After five minutes into the second, MJ McMahon nailed a shot in the back of the net, assisted by Tyler Bradbury. In less than a minute, Will Overly followed with a score of his own. However, Jacksonville retaliated again soon after, though Utah would once again score back-to-back goals — the first coming from Colby Plotts, and the second from Stines. Still, Jacksonville would not give in, with a set of back-to-back goals of their own just two minutes apart.
Impressively, Utah was still not done and fired off another double hit, one from Jared Andreala assisted by Carson Moyer, and one from Bradbury. Soon after, Stines delivered his fourth goal of the game. Jacksonville secured one more goal before the half ended, leaving the score in favor of the Utes at 9-6.
Second Half
The second half started out smoothly as well, with Stines wasting no time with a goal straight into the quarter, and Cody Hart following soon after. Bradbury followed the trend of the game and hammered a back-to-back set as well, with the two only separated by a minute. Jacksonville then followed with two more goals themselves. From here, the quarter was pretty defense-dominant, keeping Jacksonville at bay before Moyer nailed a buzzer-beater with 0:01 left, making it 14-8 in favor of Utah.
The fourth started with another goal from Andreala, before Jacksonville claimed their ninth of the day. The Dolphins ended up scoring four more goals in a fiery comeback attempt, though a goal by Andreala put an end to this run with 18 seconds to go. The Utes escaped with a victory of 16-13.
Next Up
After this nail-biting display from the Utes, they will go on to play Duke in the first round of the NCAA National Lacrosse Championship. The two teams will play on May 11 at 12:30 p.m. MT on ESPNU.
