FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
BYU Lacrosse
Contact: Jordan Harris
lacrossemedia@byu.net
(303) 506-7546

Provo, UT (March 11, 2008) – The #1 Brigham Young University Cougars face off against the #8 Arizona State University Sun Devils on Tuesday, March 11. Game time is set for 7:00 PM. Both teams are coming off of lopsided victories, the Cougars over the Michigan State Spartans (18-6) last Saturday, and the Sun Devils over the Utah Utes (22-8) on Sunday.

How To Follow: The game will have a live web radio broadcast with host Tom Campbell. Go to BYUlacrosse.com to listen to the game or to view live stats.

BYU/ASU Series Notes: Tuesday’s game will be the seventh meeting all-time between the Cougars and the Sun Devils. BYU leads the series 6-0, including last year’s 20-5 victory in Tempe. The Cougars were led in that game by freshman attackman Ted Ferrin with 6 points (2G, 4A). Several freshman notched their first goals as Cougars that game including Corey Gunderson, Jeremy Rife, Devin Theurer and Paul Davis. Christian Kikumoto had 9 saves on the day, while back-up DJ Sullivan had 2 saves and no goals against. The last time the Sun Devils played in Provo was in 2004, with the Cougars winning the contest handily.

About the Cougars: The Cougars (3-3) are coming off a win over the Michigan State Spartans on Saturday by a score of 18-6. The Cougars used 11 different players to notch 34 total points on the day. Attackman Justin Hier and Josh Austin led the way with 7 points apiece, while freshman attackman Mark Manning had an impressive 5 points on the afternoon (4G, 1A). Austin and Hier lead all goal scorers on the year with 19 goals apiece, while midfielder Elliot Grow leads the team in points with 37 (8G, 29A). BYU is currently ranked first in the Lax World MCLA poll. Head coach Jason Lamb is in his fourteenth season at BYU with a 182-64 (.739) record.

About the Sun Devils: The Sun Devils (4-1) are coming off a 22-8 win over the University of Utah on Sunday afternoon. The Sun Devils had outstanding performances from junior attackman Ryan Westfall (4G, 7A) and sophomore midfielder Ryan Westfall (5G, 3A). The Sun Devils are led by sophomore attackman Eric Nelson with 18 points on the year, and Ryan Westfall with 17 points on the year. The lone ASU loss on the year came against the University of Michigan. They have beaten league opponents Cal Poly, Southern Cal and UCLA. The Sun Devils are currently 1-0 on the road with their win over Utah. ASU is currently ranked eighth in the Lax World MCLA poll. Head coach Chris Malone is in his first season at ASU with a 4-1 record.

Extra Extra: BYU continued its Extra Man prowess vs. MSU by going 6 of 12 on the day. BYU is currently scoring on 57% (24-42) of their extra man opportunities. Against Whittier College, BYU scored 7 goals on 5 opportunities.

Sharing the Ball: Elliot Grow is on pace to have over 70 assists on the season. He is currently averaging 4.83 assists per game to lead the nation is assists. He has 29 assist through 6 games including 6 against both Santa Barbara and Whittier.

Seasons Change: Last year BYU started out 5-1 through 6 games while in 2006 the Cougars started out an identical 3-3. During the 2006 season the Cougars posted a 14-7 record including another trip to the MCLA national semi-finals. This year’s team has already had one more loss than the National Champion Cougars did last season.

Cougar Defense: The Cougar defense held the MSU Spartans to a season low 6 goals. That improved their goals against average to 11.5.

Quality Competition: BYU has 13 of 16 games this season against top 25 teams, including 7 of the top 10 teams. Laxpower.com currently ranks the Cougars schedule at 3rd most difficult in the nation.

Getting Involved: 16 different players have scored points on the year, to give BYU a 14.66 goals a game average. 8 freshmen have scored points on the year, topped by attackman Mark Manning with 4.17 points a game.

Man Down: The Cougar defense is holding teams to 23.8% in man down situations including a 0-7 performance against the Spartans.

Attacking: The Cougar attack is averaging 13.5 points a game. During the MSU game the attack accounted for 23 of the teams 34 points.

Love at Home: The Cougars are 22-3 at home the past four seasons including a 13 streak that spanned the 2006-2008 seasons. The Cougars lost on March 1st to the University of Michigan to end the home winning streak.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 11th, 2008 at 10:37 pm and is filed under MCLA News, RMLC. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.