Lacrosse club returns from Best of the West tourney
For the last two weekends, the Utah State men’s lacrosse club has competed against some of the best schools on the West Coast.
The Aggies defeated Gonzaga 11-2, Montana 7-3 and Washington State 10-2 at the Gem State Tournament in Boise. USU knocked off the University of Utah 8-6 in the tournament final Oct. 18.
Last weekend, the Aggies had another opportunity to show off their strength against a selection of teams from California and Nevada at the Best of the West Tournament.
The lacrosse club played three games Oct. 25, the first being a 4-1 victory against Claremont.
“We came out fairly lethargic, and played down to the level of our opponent” said Head Coach Eddie Vega. “We played good enough to win.”
The second game of the day was an 11-1 win over tournament host UNLV. Vega said the game was a better showing of the Aggies “true talent,” but wasn’t quite the expected level of performance.
“We moved the ball up field through stronger midfield play, and got some good looks at the goal through a more settled offense,” Vega said.
Through the first two games, Aggie goalkeeper Ben Scott only allowed two goals.
“The defense kept the ball out of the middle during those games and took away the other teams’ shooting opportunities,” Scott said.
Utah State’s third and final game of the tournament was against the No. 9 team in the Men’s Division Intercollegiate Associates – Cal Poly. Utah State came out on top 4-3.
Cal Poly opened up the scoring by taking a 1-0 lead early in the first half. The score was then answered by USU attackman Kyle Fiat on a hard left-handed shot to even the game.
The rest of the first half was spent holding the ball on both sides of the field without any goals.
Shortly after halftime, Cal Poly went up 2-1 by scoring on a broken play out of the midfield.
Fiat answered Cal Poly once again to even the game.
Cal Poly scored again in the middle of the second half to go up 3-2.
After their third goal, Cal Poly had a chance at an open goal, but the thigh of defenseman Matt Polityka stood in front of the shot while Scott was hustling back to the net.
Shortly after Polityka’s defensive effort to keep the Aggies in the game, midfielder Evan Nitchman scored on a hard bounce shot that evened the game at 3-3.
The second half ended about a minute after Nitchman’s goal and the game went to sudden death overtime.
Within two minutes of overtime, Thad Nicholls flipped a loose ground ball in the offensive zone into the waiting stick of Hans Winkler who proceeded to score the game-winning goal for the Aggies.
“This win was huge for our team” Vega said.
The club will start the road to MDIA National Championship in March. The team is planning for four or five home games in the spring.