Ags fall to Wolf Pack; USU struggles with absece of key player
The Aggies fought back to within two goals of the visiting Nevada Wolf Pack in the third quarter Friday in the Stan Laub Indoor Facility but were undone by a crippling three-minute penalty on Johnny Gilmore to start the fourth quarter and the abscence of hot-headed midfield star Kent Arnold, falling to Nevada 14-6.
The infraction on Gilmore was for playing with a stick a quarter-inch too narrow across the mouth of it’s basket. The midfielder, who scored one goal, called it “the worst penalty in the game.” It meant Gilmore, one of Coach Matt Polytyka’s most active players in the middle of the field, had to sit out and the Aggies had to go man-down in the midst of a rally.
“We didn’t play the first quarter, we gave up seven goals in the first quarter,” Polytyka said.
Gilmore said, “I was honestly a little concerned about it when they checked my stick because I got a penalty like that about a month ago but we’ve had it checked since and other refs haven’t called it. You feel like you let your team down, but I don’t know what I could’ve done because other refs say that stick’s OK whereas these ones decided it was small.”
Although midfielder Brian Miller was was able to score some goals, four, Hans Winkler and Gilmore were the only other two to score for the Ags while the Pack scored repeatedly in the fourth quarter to pull away.
“All around, a terrible game, I thought. The defense didn’t play well and the offense didn’t run. It was ugly and then the refs just made it uglier,” Polytyka said.
Gilmore attributed some of the team’s offensive struggles to the missing player. “I definitely think we missed our midfielder [Arnold] today not being able to get shots but obviously he put himself out of the game.”
Kyle Gorrell and Spencer Lee each played a half in the goal but Polytyka said neither played especially well and Gilmore said the Aggies just got run over on defense.
Although Utah State didn’t qualify, it will host the Rocky Mountain Lacrosse Conference tournament April 27.
-graham@cc.usu.edu