Lacross club fall short against U. 10-8
The Utah State Men’s lacrosse team lost a hard-fought scrimmage against the University of Utah, 10-8, in Salt Lake City Wednesday night.
Even though they lost by two, the Aggies made it interesting by rallying back from four down to close within two before the final buzzer sounded.
The scrimmage provided the team with a good idea of what needs to be worked on to prepare for the upcoming season.
Head coach Morgan Hatfield said the team has a better perspective of who can play at what positions and can work on fine-tuning the players at those positions.
“The scrimmage really gave us a great advantage before the regular season,” he said. “We played on completely undefined lines and really mixed everything up to see how we would play.”
The USU squad, nicknamed the “Blue Devils” fell behind early, 2-0 on quick goals by two of the Utes’ midfielders. The Blue Devils rallied back behind goals from Paul Larkin and Tyler Berkey.
Larkin netted a total of three goals for the game and credited most of his success to the rest of the offense.
“The offense really opened it up for me in the middle and I was able to get some good looks and score,” he said.
The scoring went back and forth between the two teams, and when the buzzer sounded at the end of the second period the score was 6-4 in favor of the Utes.
During the middle of the third period, the Utes scored four unanswered goals, putting the score at 9-5. The Blue Devils rallied back once more behind the solid play of Jason Lambert.
After Midfielder Tyler Berkey went out with a sprained ankle, Lambert came in and scored two goals to bring the Aggies close.
“After Tyler went down, I just wanted to come in and play the best I could,” he said. “I got some open looks and was able to put the ball in the corner of the goal.”
Even though the team came away with a loss, it was a improvement from last year, when the Utes beat the Blue Devils convincingly.
“This game really shows us our potential,” said James Coburn, attackman for the Devils. “It just proves that we can play with anybody in our league.”
The defense led behind John Atwood also added to the comeback holding the Utes scoreless in the last 10 minutes of play.
Atwood acknowledges that all the running and training the team has been doing over the last few months was the reason the team stayed close.
This was the final scrimmage for the team, which will start its regular season during Spring Break in two weeks.