Utah conquers crosstown rival Westminster
By Tim Haslam
Photos courtesy of Haslam Photography
The No. 23 University of Utah men’s lacrosse team added another victory to their rivalry with Westminster College, beating the Griffins by the score of 15-8 at Dumke Field in Salt Lake City.
Neither team scored in the first six minutes of the game while the offenses looked for openings and got a feel for the defensive sets being run by each team. At the 8:24 mark in the first quarter, Utah attackmen Mark Manning drove from the right side, shooting the ball past Westminster goalie Dallas McLellan to open the scoring. Both teams continued to play great defense until there were 42 seconds left in the quarter when Utah attackmen Zac Harris gave the Utes a two goal lead. Just 35 seconds later, Utah midfielder Mike Calvert scored on a man-up goal to give the Utes a 3 goal lead after the first quarter.
Westminster (5-3,1-0), who is ranked No. 4 in the Division-II polls, netted their first goal at the 12:30 mark in the second quarter. Westminster was man-up which caused the Utah defense to get confused, allowing Griffin attackmen Josh Condas, who was left wide open on the left side of the crease, score an easy goal. Utah scored one more goal before allowing Westminster to get two goals and end the half with the Utes leading, 4-3.
Utah (5-1) scored the first goal of the second half when attackmen Josh Kunz started with the ball in the back left corner, ran behind the goal and wrapped around the right side of the crease and managed to find a gap to get the ball in the back of the net.
A minute later, Westminster attackmen Kellen Lynn scored to bring the Griffins within one goal, but Utah went on a 7 goal streak to put the game out of reach. The Griffins and Utes traded back-to-back goals until Calvert scored the last goal of the game with 2:11 remaining, giving the Utes the win.
Utah led in almost every stat category which doesn’t always tell the story, but it did in this game. The Utes had 52 shots, 47 ground balls, won 14 out of 24 face-offs and successfully cleared the ball 19 times out of 21 attempts. Westminster had only 23 shots, 27 ground balls, won 10 of 24 face-offs and successfully cleared 17 times out of 23 attempts.
“Our ground ball skills and our handling the ball under pressure really gave them possessions they really didn’t earn,” said Westminster head coach Mason Goodhand. “All they did was run hard and put pressure on us and we folded.”
Utah was led by Freshman attackmen Tyler Kunz who had 5 goals. Harris, another freshman, netted 2 goals and 1 assist. Freshman goalie Alex Watanawekin had 8 saves and allowed 8 goals.
“Young kids, Zac Harris, Tyler Kunz, continue to produce for us,” said Utah head coach Craig Morris. “They’ve just worked really hard and are very coachable.”
Westminster was led by Junior attackmen Josh Condas who had 3 goals and 1 assist.
This was the fourth time the two schools, separated by only 1.8 miles, have met in the regular season. Utah now leads the series with 3 wins.
Utah heads to Colorado to face the University of Colorado on March 22 and Colorado State on March 24. Westminster will play Montana State on March 27 at Dumke Field in Salt Lake City.
