Lacrosse plagued with losses
The lacrosse Aggies had to swallow a tough 23-4 loss to the University of Utah Thursday afternoon on the HPER Field.
The start of the game was delayed after a severe cloudburst rolled in. Rain drenched the field and after lightning struck barely a quarter of a mile away, the teams took shelter for 20 minutes in the HPER Building.
After the proceedings began, the Utes wasted little time in jumping all over the Aggies. The score was 8-0 after one quarter and 14-0 at halftime.
Utah controlled the face-off and time of possession in the first half, seemingly beating the Ags to every loose ball. Goalie Jackson Evans made some great saves under pressure, but also turned the ball over a few times on passes to the crowded middle of the field.
“We came out slow. They are a pretty experienced team and that’s the difference with our four returning players,” USU Head Coach Matt Polityka said.
USU struggled to pick up Utah’s cutters, who came open in the middle again and again for some easy goals.
“We had a hard time playing team defense on the midfield line,” Polityka said. “It comes down to practice. We’ve only had 10 practices, which isn’t a lot to work on everything we want to work on.”
After halftime, USU came out of their doldrums and finally got on the scorer’s sheet in the third with a Brian Miller goal.
Miller, who led the Aggies with three goals and dominated the face-off in the second half, said, “our guys were a little bit more level-headed in the fourth quarter and we just wanted it more than the Utes. I guess the U was already up, so we were still playing as hard in the fourth as we were in the first quarter.”
Will Weiss scored the other Aggie goal off a nice assist by team captain Steve Hughes.
Attitudes were positive on the Aggie sideline post-game, perhaps due to tying the fourth quarter 3-3, or perhaps because as Miller said, “The fall is just for learning.”
The Aggies biggest goal-scoring threat said, “We’re improving every game, every quarter, as you could see from this game. From first quarter to fourth quarter, it looked a lot better. Our freshmen are getting better and we’re going to be a lot stronger in the spring.”
The Aggies will practice tomorrow and then drive south to take on UVSC, a game Polityka said USU is looking to win.
“We’re heading down to UVSC this Saturday – that’s a game we can win,” Polityka said. “We lost to them by two in that tournament last Friday. They’re a team we can beat and that’s a game we’re looking to win.”