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For Immediate Release – BYU Lacrosse

PROVO, UT -  BYU Lacrosse kicked off the Fall Ball schedule with a win over rival Utah, 16-6, in the Showcase Game for the Golden Spike High School Tournament Saturday. Senior Elliot Grow gave the Cougars a fast start stinging a corner on fast break goal early in the first quarter. Utah promptly answered with a goal of their own.

With the score even, Senior Britt Cone and Sophomore Kent Mann put in back to back goals to push the score to 3-1 in favor of the Cougars. The rest of the first quarter was played at a frenzied pace, with teams exchanging fast break opportunities. The quarter would end with BYU up 5-3.

“We started slow today,” said Assistant Coach Jordan Harris. “We came out tentative for the first 15 minutes and let Utah establish a rhythm, and we made some undisciplined mistakes. We challenged the defense to be better and be the aggressor and not let Utah get comfortable.”

The BYU defense began to put the pressure on the Utes, holding them scoreless in the second period. “At the quarter break we talked about trying to make their offense uncomfortable,” said Senior Jeremy Rife. “Coming into the second, we pushed our defense out a bit more and it paid off.”

The Cougar offense added three goals in the quarter, two from Mann, who finished with four on the day.

“Going into half we felt like we still had a lot to improve,” said Harris. “Utah brought it in the first half, and we responded, but we still had thoughts of Simon Fraser on the horizon. We talked about having to be better about everything, ground balls, clearing, riding, face-offs, if we want to play well against Simon Fraser. We gave them the challenge to play as hard as they would need to next week in the second half and again, they responded.”

BYU responded by putting in 6 unanswered goals to start the third quarter. Lead by Grow’s second and third goals of the game, the Cougars put the Utes on their heels. Freshman Zach Hansen added his first of two goals on the day as well to help push the Cougar’s lead to 13-3.

“Being our first scrimmage, we knew that we would have some things to work on” said Head Coach Matt Schneck. “Our goal for the day was simple. We wanted an opportunity for every member of the team to play and to have the opportunity to evaluate them in a competitive environment. There is nothing that can simulate playing another team better than playing another team. We are excited that we have been able to put together such a great fall ball schedule. It’s going to pay dividends.”

After the third quarter both teams cleared the bench to get some new faces playing time. Freshman Mike Fabrizio got his first tally as a Cougar, Freshman Jake Folkerson lead the defense with big hits and precise clearing.

“With the implementation of new traditions and philosophy, we are excited about this year’s team and especially the new group of freshman” said Schneck. “Everything that we have done from the beginning of fall ball is BYU Lacrosse for them. We are most excited about the enthusiasm and speed in which the team is practicing and preparing. The reduction of our team size has provided every member of our team more exposure and experience. We still have quite a bit of work to do, but I am excited about what this team can do when they work together. This next Saturday will be a great test.”

The Cougars are back in action next Saturday, October 17, against Simon Fraser (British Columbia). The game will be at 3:00 PM on the North University Field on the BYU campus.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 13th, 2009 at 8:36 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.