Utah Valley Outplays Rival Westminster to Advance
By Tim Haslam
(Photo Credit Ben Haslam)
Commerce City, Colorado (May 14,2010) – No. 3 Utah Valley held of the No. 10 Westminster Griffins in the MCLA National Championship on Friday by the score of 9-7.
Westminster and Utah Valley faced off in the first of four games at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in Denver on Friday in front of a loud crowd. Utah Valley took a quick two goal lead off goals from Junior midfielder Trever McCann and Freshmen midfielder Peter Santamaria.
The Griffins answered back with two goals of their own. Sophomore midfielder Gian Sexsmith scored at the 10:10 and 6:32 mark to tie the game at 2-2.
Utah Valley took a one goal lead with 10:18 left in the half on a goal by Freshman attackmen Brian Tyrrell. Westminster tied the game on a goal by Junior midfielder Jimmy Nguyen. Nguyen went iso down the left side and managed to bounce the ball over the shoulder of Utah Valley goalie Cory Heward. With one-minute and twenty seconds, Westminster defensemen Brent Collins slashed, giving Utah Valley and extra man opportunity. Utah Valley capitalized when Santamaria shot a burner from the top of the box past Westminster goalie Dallas McLellan with 36 seconds left in the half.
Utah Valley got off to a great start, taking the lead to three goals. Westminster would shorten the deficit to one, but Utah Valley was able to get two more goals to take a 8-5 lead into the second half of the fourth quarter. Westminster scored two goals, two minutes apart to bring the Utah Valley lead to one again. Westminster called a timeout with 1:37 remaining in the game while Utah Valley had the ball. Westminster elected to pull McLellan out on an attackmen, leaving the cage wide open. Utah Valley attackmen Chad Frost was able to beat his defender, dodge another and put the ball in the back of the net, which ultimately secured the victory for the Wolverines.
Frost lead the Wolverines with two goals and three assists. Sexsmith lead the Griffins with three goals. McLellan had 13 saves while Heward had 7.
“Our inability to execute a few skills gave them a lot of turnovers,” said Westminster Head Coach Mason Goodhand. “They really deserve to be representing the Rocky Mountain Lacrosse Conference.”
“I knew it was going to be hard-hitting, fast pace game the whole game,” said Utah Valley Head Coach Kevin Perkins. “I knew there were going to run their 3-3 and we put in some plays to counter act that and my players did awesome.”
Utah Valley will face the winner of St. Thomas/Davenport in the Division II Championship Game tomorrow at 4:00 PM.
