Corner Canyon, Park City Remain As No. 1, U-17 National Team Coaches Selected, RMLC Tournament This Weekend in Provo
Issue 88 - Utah Beats Robert Morris, BYU/UVU Women Win RMWLL Titles
Good morning lacrosse fans! Thank you for taking time out of your day for the Utah Lax Report.
As a reminder, the fine folks at Tribal West are offering 10% off your online order using the code TRIBAL2022 on tribalwest.com. You can order online and pick it up in-store!
As always, please visit our title sponsors Tribal West Lacrosse (website) & MinersTown Strength and Condition (website).
Boys High School
Before we get to the poll, I wanted to remind everyone about the RPI tracker that I update every day. I found this nifty little tool last year that helps visualize data so I applied it to the RPI rankings and have published them at the links below.
Also, the crew at Game Night Live Rewind produces a high school stream each week and I’m grateful they keep having me back to do the color commentary. It’s a great production and I highly recommend tuning in. You can also see past games here. We were at the Timpview @ Skyline game on Wednesday that was won by Skyline in overtime. What a game!
The mid-season All-American watchlist will be published this week as well so be on the lookout for that!
I found myself at Payson High School on Friday for their showdown against Layton. Coach Sisneros has done a great job building the Payson program and it was great to get to a game at ‘The Lions Den’ for a few reasons: 1) It’s the southernmost sanctioned team which now means I’ve been to the northernmost team in Sky View, the furthest east team in Wasatch and now the southernmost in Payson. Sky View edges out Bear River as the northernmost by just 7 miles. Bear River is the furthest west school overall so it looks like I need to head that way soon. 2) Payson plays on a grass field, which I love, although it will be for just this year as new turf is on the way. 3) The game between Layton and Payson was awesome and a true testament to the growth in the state as neither team existed just 2 years ago.

As always, our polls are brought to you by Salty Lacrosse.
No. 1 Corner Canyon - The Chargers took down No. 8 Lone Peak, 13-1, on Tuesday then trounced Skyridge, 21-3, on Friday. Corner Canyon will take on No. 3 American Fork on Tuesday and Pleasant Grove on Friday.
No. 2 Olympus - The Titans returned to action this week with a 23-4 drubbing of Juan Diego on Thursday. Olympus will host Bountiful today then head to Waterford on Thursday. Olympus Head Coach Nick Merrell and Bountiful Head Coach Pete Jordan were teammates at Utah in 2010 and 2011.
No. 3 American Fork - The Cavemen were tested by No. 10 Westlake in their first game back from Spring Break and narrowly escaped defeat, needing overtime to beat the Thunder, 11-10. No. 1 Corner Canyon awaits American Fork on Tuesday while cross-town rival No. 8 Lone Peak plays host to the Caveman on Thursday.
No. 4 Park City - The Miners were off this week and will head to Sandy on Friday for a showdown against No. 5 Alta.
No. 5 Alta - The Hawks trounced Timpanogos on Thursday, 20-1. On Tuesday, Alta will continue region play against Mountain View then host No. 4 Park City on Friday.
No. 6 Mountain Ridge - The Sentinels beat West Jordan on Thursday, 20-6, and will host Copper Hills on Tuesday before heading to West on Thursday.
No. 7 Davis - The Darts continue to roll, beating Weber on Thursday, 16-5, and Roy on Friday, 11-4. Davis has a key matchup on Tuesday against No. 9 Fremont and then will head to rival Farmington on Thursday.
No. 8 Lone Peak - The Knights fell to No. 1 Corner Canyon on Tuesday, 13-1, then beat Pleasant Grove, 14-6, on Thursday. The Knights host No. 10 Westlake on Tuesday and No. 3 American Fork on Thursday.
No. 9 Fremont - The Silverwolves beat Clearfield on Thursday, 20-4. Fremont will head to No. 7 Davis on Tuesday and then host Layton on Thursday.
No. 10 Westlake - Westlake beat Pleasant Grove, 13-10, on Tuesday then lost to No. 3 American Fork, 11-10, in overtime on Thursday. The Thunder will face No. 8 Lone Peak on Tuesday and Skyridge on Thursday.
Other games of note: Viewmont beat Bonneville, 8-7, on Wednesday in a key region battle. A surprise of the week was Sky View beating Green Canyon, 9-6. The Bobcats are 6-2 on the season with the two losses coming to 6A opponents Weber and Fremont. The Bobcats followed up the win over Green Canyon with a 14-13 overtime thriller over Ridgeline on Friday.
Girls High School
Here are the links to the updated RPI tracker. It’s a fun way to visualize how your team is doing.
Girls 6A | Girls 5A | Girls 4A
Utah had some hard Spring weather this week. With snow on many of the fields it put teams in a scramble to reschedule games in these next few weeks. Coming into this week several teams are playing back to back games, 2-3 and even 4 games this week. Best of luck to everyone and I hope for all of us that the weather stays clear.
No. 1 Park City is No. 12 in the nation according to MaxPreps, No. 1 in Utah and No. 1 in 5A. Utah stands proud behind Park City success and strength of making the Top 20 teams in the nation! Park City was out on Spring Break this past week. Their next game is against Maple Mountain on Wednesday.
No. 2 Skyridge has shown us once again that they are a team to be reckoned with. Thursday night they had a wonderfully won game against Corner Canyon, 16-6. Skyridge will be having a home game against Pleasant Grove on Tuesday night, an away game against Olympus on Wednesday night and a home game against Westlake on Thursday night. Best of luck to Skyridge and their three games this week.
No. 3 Brighton Brighton had two great games this week beginning with Jordan on Thursday night winning, 16-5. On Friday night the Bengals beat Fremont, 10-5. Next up is an away game at Waterford on Tuesday night and then a rivalry showdown against Alta on Thursday.
No. 4 Olympus had a competitive win over Juan Diego Wednesday night, 16-9. Next up for Olympus is a home game on Wednesday night against Skyridge.
No. 5 Mountain Ridge had a proud win over West Jordan in double overtime, 13-12, along with a great win Friday night over Riverton, 18-9. Next up for Mountain Ridge is Tuesday night at Copper Hills and Thursday night hosting West.
No. 6 Lone Peak came in with a loss and a hard win this past week. The loss came at the hands of Pleasant Grove on Thursday night but the Knights rebounded well against Wasatch and took home the win. Next up for Lone Peak is a Tuesday night affair at Westlake, then on Wednesday the Knights will host Corner Canyon before taking on American Fork on Thursday. Three strong competitors this week for Lone Peak.
No. 7 Corner Canyon had an equally skilled game against Skyridge on Thursday night but fell short in goals, losing, 6-16. Next for Corner Canyon is a home game against American Fork Tuesday night. Followed by Lone Peak Wednesday and Pleasant Grove Thursday night.
No. 8 Davis moved up this week. They had an outstanding win over Weber Thursday night, 15-3. Davis has challenging games ahead of them within the week when they host Fremont on Tuesday and Farmington on Thursday.
No. 9 Herriman re-entered the Coaches Poll this week with an overwhelming win over Riverton this past week, 21-9 and heading into a battle Monday April 25th at Lone Peak.
No. 10 West Jordan steps up to the Top 10 Coaches Poll this week with a struggling loss to No. 5 Mountain Ridge in double overtime, 12-13. Next up for West Jordan is Tuesday April 26th against Herriman.
Game Recaps
Juan Diego vs Highland - Juan Diego had a souring win over the Highland Rams, 20-10. From the start of the game to the last whistle Juan Diego figured out they needed to double team Highland during their transitions to slow them down as they headed to score. In addition, pressuring Highlands goalie during her clears to delay their fast transitions. Juan Diego’s defense was able to shut down a majority of Highland’s crease roll plays which they used much of the time. Juan Diego nominated Kyra Hoffman as their player of the game. She had many draw controls throughout the game. Kyra was able to send the draw straight over to Nola Christensen and Olivia Prosper.
Orem vs Salem Hills - As the night was cold for all of us, Orem met Salem Hills on the battlefield at Orem, losing 2-8. The team hustled hard and learned that they need to continue that hustle to compete in all their games. “Leave it all on the field,” said Coach Adams. Orem nominated Aleah Parish as their player of this game. She had full efforts across the full field the whole game.
Alta vs East - Alta had a shutout game against East, 20-0. The first half of the game, Alta players were playing as individuals and they couldn’t get a flow going for their team. Going into the second half Alta went out and worked together and really found their game. Once that second half got under their control, Altas did great helping each other on defense and made their goalies job easier. The Alta girls lacrosse team learned from the first half of their game that working together as a team makes the game of lacrosse a lot more fun and easier when working together. Alta nominated Mylie Johnson as their player of the game. “Mylie Johnson had an unreal game. She took 6 shots on goal and had 6 goals. Not only did she find the back of the net 6 times, she had great rides, and caused turnover,” Said Coach Breur. From Alta Captain Autumn Engstrom: “I felt we did really well in certain aspects. Our defensive rides looked the best they have looked. We just need to clean things up for bigger games to come.”
Davis vs Roy - Davis varsity ended up winning against Roy, 19-2. Davis had 9 different goal scorers - Macie Wood (4), Tallulah Raser (4), Olivia Lifferth (3), Kaydence Johnson (2), Kerri Norton (2), Ava Bair (1), Mackenzie Coleman (1), Jacey Compton (1), & Gracie Rose (1). Morgan Bunch played all 50 minutes in the cage and recorded 10 saves.
Pleasant Grove vs Westlake - The Pleasant Grove draw control was fantastic in their game, they had some great assist on their attacking end, working hard throughout the game to create shooting opportunities. The Vikings defending side had stepped it up from their previous game against American Fork. Although the Vikings stepped up their game on defense they will be continuing to work on their ability to have fluent communication. “We over all played great as a team under terrible weather conditions,” said Pleasant Grove Captain Katelyn Sperry. Pleasant Grove nominates Lucy Elcock as their player of the game. “Lucy played a great game! She sprinted as fast and hard as she could. We loved the intensity. She also had two great goals,” said Coach Wright.
Highlighted Game - Corner Canyon vs Skyridge - During Collin Gill's podcast last week he stated that this was going to be a very fun game for both teams, as Matt Kenning coaches many of the Skyridge players on his competition team Force Lacrosse. Skyridge made their home turf proud with a great win of 16-6.
Corner Canyon perspective of the game: Corner Canyon players stepped onto the field with loads of competitive energy. The team dominated with some strong defense plays/moments. The intensity of both teams made the game much closer by playing ability then what the score portrayed. The team learned fast that they needed to limit their mistakes when playing a highly skilled team like Skyridge. Corner Canyon received a handful of yellow cards for their high determination to shut down Skyridge top players. Corner Canyon nominated Allie Reading as their player of this game. “Allie had a great defensive game and did a great job guarding River and Haven the entire game,” said Coach Kenning.
Skyridge perspective of the game: Skyridge had a phenomenal game on their defensive end. The team's teamwork made them shut down some talented attackers/midfielders on Corner Canyon. All five of the defenders on Skyridge’s varsity roster played well in this game. Special shoutout to Olivia Coleman - she was aggressive, caused at least one turnover, and had several ground balls to help transition Skyridges team back to offense throughout the game. Eliza White (goalie), also stepped up in a big way and had a few clutch saves right from the beginning that kept the momentum on Skyridges side in the early stages of the game. On the attacking side of things, Skyridge played smart, made good decisions, and had lots of good looks from a variety of players. Corners doubling of River and Haven really allowed our offense to open things up which was nice. "I think our team gained a lot of confidence in their abilities individually and as a team. We had several (3) very close games with Corner Canyon last season and it was good to see the girls see the payoff for the hard work they have put in to play “their” game. We also came away with an increased resolve to make smarter decisions in transition. Coach Gill nominated River Buchner as their player of the game. River was consistent on the draw, steady as a fielder and collected on both offense and defense. She needed this game with 4 goals and 4 caused turnovers. From Captain Alexandria Vaughn: "We finally won the coin toss, even though we were the home team and didn't call it in the air..."
Coach Audrey Degn: "This was a fun game for sure. We had a few transitions that were not the best, but it was a good game and the girls played hard."
U17 National Tournament Team
The U17 National Tournament team had an outstanding turnout, with girls from all across Utah attending. Utah's girls lacrosse has been leveling up significantly and the amount of talent on the field on Saturday was jaw dropping. We are all excited to see what this U17 team can accomplish in Baltimore. The question crossing everyone’s mind is how do the coaches pick only 22 girls to be a part of the U17 team? During tryouts every girl gets scored on 8 different skills from 5 evaluators. All the scores are added up and submitted to USA Lacrosse. They will select the top 20 field player scores and the top 2 goalie scores and that will be the U17 team. The team will be announced on April 29th
Meet your U17 2022 Coaches
Weslie Lundell: Lone Peak Head Coach, Force Lacrosse Assistant Coach. “The talent in Utah is rising faster than anyone realizes. Picking the top players in the state becomes more difficult each year! This year was no different. Narrowing the players down was definitely difficult but putting the talent aside, we are very excited to watch these girls come together as they each bring their own positive attitudes and bright personalities to this incredible team!”
Lauren Van Woerkom: Sky Ridge Assistant Coach, Utah Liberty Coach. “There was tons of talent this year! Everyone there played their hearts out and left it all on the field, making it extremely difficult for us coaches and evaluators to make the final roster. I wish we had more spots to fill, but I am extremely excited and looking forward to being able to work with this group of girls this year!”
Mens College
In the NCAA ranks, Utah beat Robert Morris, 18-8, in front of 1,054 fans who entertained from start to finish. Jordan Hyde finished with 5 goals for the Utes while Tyler Bradbury added 2 goals and 5 assists. Josh Stout has found his grove including this goal that brings me back to the early days!
It was a great, complete team effort by the Utes and a great showing for the ASUN league leaders. The win clinches a spot in the ASUN tournament on the first weekend of May. The Utes will head to Louisville to face Bellarmine on Saturday, April 23 at 10 a.m. MT. Utah wraps up regular season play with its final home game on Saturday, April 30 at 1 p.m. MT against Detroit Mercy.
In the MCLA, No. 1 BYU had a rough week including a loss to now No. 2 Virginia Tech on Monday and No. 21 Texas on Saturday. The Cougars entered the week undefeated. The two losses don’t mean much though except for poll position as they clinched the No. 1 seed in the RMLC tournament already. Speaking of Texas, the Longhorns fell to No. 20 UVU on Thursday. BYU will host the RMLC tournament on Friday and Saturday in Provo. This is a great opportunity to get out and see great teams in action.
RMLC Schedule - All games at the BYU West Field (former Provo High School field).
Friday
10a - Utah State v. Utah Club
1p - Montana State v. Air Force Academy
4p - BYU v. Colorado State
7p - Colorado v. Texas
Saturday
11a - D-II championship
1p - D-I championship
Remaining College Schedule
4/22 - Westminster @ Adams State - Noon
4/22 - RMLC Tournament @ Provo (BYU, Utah State, Utah Club)
4/23 - Utah @ Bellarmine - 10 am
4/23 - RMLC Championship @ Provo (Teams TBD)
4/24 - Westminster @ CSU-Pueblo - Noon
4/30 - Colorado Mesa @ Westminster - 11 am
4/30 - Robert Morris @ Utah - 1 pm
5/5 & 5/7 - ASUN Tournament - Huntsville, Alabama (Utah)
5/6 - RMAC Tournament @ TBA (Westminster)
5/9 - MCLA Tournament First Round @ Round Rock, TX (Teams TBD)
Womens College
The RMWLL tournament played out last weekend at Utah State University. In the BYU Cougars beat the Utah Utes, 11-10, on Saturday to claim the title. In the D-I semifinals, BYU beat Colorado, 15-9, while Utah beat Utah State, 16-9.
In D-II, UVU bested Boise State, 16-11, to claim the championship and secure a bid to the WCLA National Tournament. Both Utah Valley and Boise State led at different times, Utah Valley was down 3 points at half. Utah Valley players made a decision that they wanted to play for each other (as a team, as a sisterhood). They made that want become their reality and it was inspiring to watch their teamwork and skill level grow together. “In the last 30 seconds of the game, it hit me, we are going to be champions of our region. First time in UVU history. Now our sights are on nationals,” said Coach Jorgy.
In the semifinals, UVU beat Air Force, 17-13, while Boise State beat Denver, 13-11.
BYU and UVU are locks for the WCLA National Tournament since they earned the automatic qualifier for the RMWLL conference. Utah and Utah State will need the selection committee to grant them a spot in the tournament. The WCLA National Tournament will kick off in Round Rock, Texas on May 4.
In the NCAA ranks, Westminster beat Adams State by forfiet and then beat Fort Lewis, 19-18. The Griffins will take to the road to face Colorado Mesa on Wednesday and CSU-Pueblo on Friday.
That’s it for this week, stay safe out there and see you on the sidelines!
— Tim Haslam (Intro/Mens/Boys) & Kenzie Christiansen (Womens/Girls)