Aggies beat Weber in season finale
by eric jungblut
staff writer
Keaton Cluff scored seven times and the Utah State lacrosse team defeated a pesky Utah Valley team 18-12 in a back-and-forth affair at the Tower Soccer Fields Friday evening.
The win ended Utah State’s year on a positive note, putting them at 4-6 on the season.
“I felt like we finally pulled it together as a team,” said Cluff, a freshman midfielder. “We’ve kind of been struggling to work as a team this whole year but we really pulled it together.”
Cluff’s seven goals led the scoring for USU, followed by Matt Taylor with four goals and Devin Chipman with three. Kevin Mann, Tanner Boden and Conner Thomas also scored for the Aggies.
“We’ve come off of two really hard games with BYU and Utah,” said USU head coach Jon Atwood. “They kind of deflated our team a little bit and to pick ourselves up after that, it took awhile for us to get the flow in this game.”
USU jumped out with a 3-1 lead in the first quarter, but UVU fought hard and matched almost blow-for-blow. Bryce Frontenot led the scoring for the Wildcats with four goals, followed by Jordan Gerber and Tanner Johnson with two apiece. Goalie Tyler Andrews played the entire game for the Aggies, making 19 saves.
“If you saw us in the fall, you would not recognize this team,” Atwood said. “We were awful. We really were. We’ve worked so hard to, I mean just with fundamentals, bringing up our game. UVU beat us in the fall in a scrimmage so this was some sweet revenge for us.”
Cluff said this win was a team effort.
“It’s not just me, it’s the whole team,” he said. “I was assisted on most of my goals. It’s all teamwork.
Atwood said he loves having Keaton on the team.
“He played for me for four years at Sky View,” he said. “We’re really glad he decided to come play up here at Utah State and we’re glad to have him. He’s a great asset to this team.”
As for next season, Atwood and Cluff remain positive.
“This was our first year back in the league,” Atwood said. “We had all new attack, all new defense. I think overall we did well. We could’ve done better but that’s fine, we’ll work on it. Next year we should have quite a few new players and we should get quite a few players back. So we’re just going to build on this from here.”
“We’re going to get a lot of recruits next year,” Cluff said. “I think this group of kids right here will get a lot better.
– ej.jungblut@gmail.com