Utes clobber Ag Lacross; Loss comes after win on wednesday
The Utah State lacrosse club was pounded by Utah 19-6 Saturday at the Stan Laub Indoor Facility in a game with 21 second-half penalties.
Trouble started in the third quarter when a USU player knocked down the Ute goalie from behind, causing a small fight and numerous penalties on both teams. USU was called for two more late hits in the fourth quarter, resulting in the ejection of Aggie Kent Arnold.
The official scorekeeper said Arnold did not have the five penalties necessary for his removal from the game, but the referee said to, “Give him more so he’s out. I want him out.”
USU Head Coach Matt Polityka said his team’s lack of discipline was what kept it from climbing back in the game.
“We had too many penalties,” he said. “Rivalry games always get heated. They exploited our penalties more than we took advantage of theirs.”
The Utes jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first quarter before Landon Weeks and Arnold scored back-to-back goals in just a few seconds to cut the Aggie deficit to 4-2. But Utah would answer with five straight goals going into halftime to take a 9-2 lead. USU never got closer than six goals after that.
“[Utah] out-matched us on every side of the ball, especially on defense,” Polityka said.
He said Utah’s significant depth and experience made it very difficult for the Aggies to stay in the game.
“They have more money and more players,” Polityka said. “We have a young team. More than half of them are freshmen. Utah has a strong senior line.”
With the loss, the Aggies drop to 3-9 on the season and 0-4 in conference play. They will match up against Wyoming next on the road Friday.-bhhinton@cc.usu.edu
Utah State 17, Linfield 8
Big games from Brian Miller, Kent “Doughnut” Arnold and Steve Hughes led Utah State to a 17-8 victory over Linfield Tuesday night in the Stan Laub Training Facility.
“Nice job on having a better record than this time last year,” Assistant Coach Al Garner said to congratulate the 3-8 Aggies after a game in which the young team showed marked signs of improvement.
“We ran the game plan to a T today. That makes the difference. We’ve done that the three games we’ve won,” Head Coach Matt Polityka said.
After trading goals with the visitors for a 4-4 draw heading into the second quarter, the Aggies went on a scoring tear that put them in the driver’s seat for good.
“I told them to be more aggressive on all sides of the ball, especially our defense getting the ball back for us. And once we got to offense, I told them just to step it up and be more aggressive all around,” Polityka said of the scoring romp.
Although he said he was upset his squad “went back and forth in the fourth quarter when all we had to do was possess the ball to win,” Polityka said he was pleased to erase the memory of two bad losses on the team’s road trip to Colorado last week.
“Usually, we score a lot of goals from out midfield, but today our attackers stepped up,” Polityka said, referring to Hughes, among others.
Hughes, the leading goal-getter for the Aggies, was wearing a bag of ice around his wrist and downing Ibuprofens by the handful after his all-star performance.
He said, “Injuries are part of the game. We don’t have pads everywhere and anywhere you don’t have pads, you get hit.” He brushed his numerous dents and dings off as “part of the game of lacrosse.”
Despite repeated admonitions from the coaches, the Aggies racked up 8:30 in penalty minutes, four of them going to defensive stalwart Kyle Oleksak and four to fiery midfielder “Doughnut” Arnold. Linfield climbed back to within a stone’s throw of the Aggies late in the going, thanks in part to scoring opportunities while USU was shorthanded.
Kyle Gorrell had a solid outing in the goal with 14 saves. Other Aggies showing up on the scorer’s sheet were John Gilmore with two goals and one assist and Chance Wells, Hans Winkler and Same Lee with two goals each.
-graham@cc.usu.edu
Utah State’s Kyle Liljenquist defends against a Utah player during Saturday’s game at the Stan Laub Indoor Facility. The Aggies lost 19-6, but beat Linfield 17-8 last Wednesday.