Lacrosse team learns lesson
With a 2-2 record at the Boise State University Gem State Invitational, the Utah State University men’s lacrosse team came home with a better understanding of how its year will be.
Captain Thad Nicholls said, “[The tournament] showed other teams what we can do as a team, but showed us what we need to improve on as a team.”
The tournament started Saturday with two wins for USU against the University of Montana 5-4 and Boise State University 6-1, and ended Sunday after USU lost its last two games against the University of Gonzaga 5-4, and the University of Utah 2-0.
The opener against Montana was an evenly matched game when looking at the 5-4 outcome captain Albert Garner said, but he said it was noticeable that USU dominated.
In the second match against BSU, the team they lost to last year in the league championship 8-6, the Aggies had a little more on the line.
This was a chance to see just how much USU has improved from last year.
With goals from five players, two from attacker Clint Garter, Garner said the Aggies easily rolled by BSU 6-1.
“We were just more physical than them,” he said. “We schooled them.” The Aggies credit the two wins to a solid defense lead by freshman Kenny Cain and the combined efforts of the offense who seemed to be gelling together, Garner said.
Sunday, on the other hand, was a different story for the Aggies.
Going into the day as one of only two undefeated teams, USU met Gonzaga, the only other undefeated team, and lost 5-4.
After going back and forth with the lead for a most the game, USU’s play started going down hill, Nicholls said.
After doing so well Saturday, the Aggies began to lose their cool and stopped setting up the ball, which lead to USU taking shots sooner than it planned.
The same type of play carried into the Aggies last game against Utah as they lost 2-0.
For the Aggies it was completely a defensive game.
Lacking patience, turnovers began to pile up as the in-state rival for the Aggies put the game out of reach.
USU came out nervous and with a different attitude on Sunday, failing to play with confidence, but in general, Nicholls said USU did all right.
“The tournament had its ups and downs, but we showed other teams we can play this sport competitively,” Nicholls said.
The weekend the Aggies will get a second chance at the U of U when they play Saturday morning in Salt Lake City. Game time is scheduled tentatively for 10 a.m. csmo@cc.usu.edu