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For Immediate Release – BYU Lacrosse

SANDY, UT (October 31, 2009) – The BYU Men’s Lacrosse Team finished off their in-state fall play Saturday by playing local rivals Utah Valley University, Utah, and Westminster College in the inaugural Scarefest Tournament.  The Cougars finished the day 3-0 with victories over each of their opponents in a shortened game format.

The first game of the day saw the Cougars pitted against the Westminster Griffins. The Griffins came out strong, pressuring the BYU offense, but the Cougars responded with three first half goals. Senior captain Elliot Grow broke the ice with a hard left handed rip that beat the Westminster goalie. Sophomore attackman Kent Mann continued his hot streak this fall, chipping in two more goals before the halftime break.

After a quick halftime, the Cougars came out firing. BYU took a total of 24 shots in the second half, and controlled possession for the majority of the half.  While the Cougars were finding plenty of chances to shoot, Westminster goalie Dallas McLellan was finding ways to keep BYU from finding the back of the net. McLellan posted 12 saves on the day.

“We created a lot of great opportunities against Westminster,” said junior midfielder Brian Mathay. “Our shooting needs to be better, but the shots we took either went in, or we retained possession with the backup, so we were happy with the shot selection, just not the number of goals.”

The Cougars were eventually able to put some shots past McLellan, adding four goals in the second half to finish the shortened game ahead 7-0.

“Preparing for tournament format games in the fall is completely different than preparing for a regular season, regulation length game,” said head coach Matt Schneck.  “The games are short and there isn’t much room for error.  You have to be on top of your game from the first whistle and recognize that literally every second counts.”

In the second game of the day the Cougars faced perennial rival University of Utah. After defeating Utah 16-6 in a full game earlier this fall, the Cougars were expecting another tough matchup with the Utes.  The Cougars got off to another early lead as sophomore captain Ted Ferrin beat the Ute goalkeeper twice to give BYU a 2-0 lead. The first half saw a lot of back and forth action with each team trying to push the tempo, with little success putting points on the board.  Utah was able to find the back of the net with two minutes left in the half, and the half ended with the Cougars up, 2-1.

The Cougars struck quickly coming out of halftime as Ferrin completed the hat-trick notching his third goal of the game and fourth of the day.  The Cougars would score five unanswered goals to start the second half.  University of Denver transfers Jacob and Jared Houghton made their presence known scoring three of the five goals to help stretch the BYU lead to 7-1 late in the second half.

Some of the younger faces on the BYU roster were able to get some quality playing time against Utah. Freshman Zach Hansen chipped in a goal for the Cougars, and a defensive unit of freshmen Zach Ipson, Sean Tanner and Jacob Folkerson held the Utes to two goals.  The game ended 7-3 in favor of the Cougars.

“I thought we came out strong against a team that is always ready to take it to us which showed a lot from some of our younger guys,” said senior captain Taylor Redd.  “We still have a lot to improve on but it was nice to see that intensity coming right out of the gates in such a short game.”

The last game of the day was a rematch of the game played just one week earlier as BYU faced off against cross-town foe Utah Valley University. In a game marred by penalties last week, the Cougars were hoping to play with more discipline and correct some of the mistakes from the game before.

Senior captain and defenseman Dan Crawforth opened the scoring for the Cougars with a coast-to-coast clear and a blistering shot that beat the Wolverine goalie.  The Cougars would open up a four-goal lead before allowing their first goal of the game one minute before halftime.  The second half saw more penalties and some odd-man situations. BYU was able to capitalize on a man-down opportunity as Grow cleared the ball, ran around the cage, and finished with a wrap around goal. Ferrin added his ninth point of the day with a man-up goal early in the second half.

The second half saw the underclassman getting the majority of the runs again for the Cougars. Freshman goalie Matt Anderson took the spot between the pipes and the all-freshman defensive unit returned to field. The younger Cougars were immediately challenged by the strong UVU attack.  A few defensive breakdowns lead to a three-goal run by the Wolverines and one-goal game.  Determined to finish the day 3-0, the Cougars called a timeout and drew up a play to add another goal to the board. Five seconds after the timeout, Grow beat the UVU goalie stick side to get the Cougar lead back to two. The game finished with the Cougars winning 7-5.

“Our goal for today was pretty simple,” said assistant coach Jordan Harris. “Come out fast, and get everyone a chance to see some playing time.  I thought we did a good job of accomplishing that in the first half, and I think the young kids got a chance to play against a great UVU team in the second half. We could have been better in a lot of aspects, but it was good experience for the some of the underclassmen.”

The tournament was a taste of what the Cougars will face next weekend as they head to Las Vegas to play in the annual Best of the West lacrosse tournament.  The format will be similar and games will again be shortened.

“We were pleased with the overall play of the team today,” said head coach Matt Schneck. “Fall ball is about gaining experience and learning how to respond to different situations.  We entered the day with an expectation that everyone would play in an effort to allow the coaching staff to evaluate the younger kids on the team.  The day and the tournament was a great success.”

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 4th, 2009 at 6:27 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.