Let the Games Begin! Classification Polls Released, Utah Breaks Records Against Iona
Plus, college women's team go local, a ESPN Top 10 play and more!
I love Day 1 of the high school season. It’s the only day where every team is technically No. 1. Once the scores start coming in, reality sets in, but for one day, everyone has the same shot at winning it all. You’ve put in the training, you’ve put in the hours on the wall, you’ve put in the sprints, now it’s time to leave it all on the field.
In this newsletter, we break down the college weekend, look ahead college games this week, take a look at the coaches classification polls and more!
We’ll start posting daily scores in our Instagram stories so be sure to follow!
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College
Mens
There were A LOT of goals scored in the state of Utah this weekend. At the NCAA level, Utah beat Iona, 32-4, and broke several records in the process. Luke McNamara set a program record with 10 goals and added an assist for 11 points. Sixteen Utes scored a goal and 22 Utes had at least one point. Read the full recap here.
In the MCLA, BYU shutout Nevada on Friday while scoring 30 goals. Utah State fell to Montana, 10-2. On Saturday, BYU beat Oregon 19-9, Utah beat Nevada 20-10 and UVU beat Oregon State 30-4.
On Sunday, Utah beat Oregon, 12-11 while Oregon State beat SUU, 28-6.
This week, Utah hosts Dartmouth on Saturday at Noon at Rice-Eccles Stadium. Utah fell to Dartmouth last season, 11-9. This game is the homecoming game for Spencer Reagan (Waterford/Culver) and Thomas Vandenburg (Park City/IMG), both of whom play for Dartmouth.
BYU will head to Boise to take on the Broncos on Friday, then Simon Fraser on Saturday. Utah Tech heads to Texas to face USC, Oklahoma and SMU in consecutive days. Southern Utah will head to Las Vegas for a couple of neutral-site games against New Mexico and Claremont.
Thursday
5:00pm - Westminster @ Rollins
Friday
1:00pm - SUU v. New Mexico (in Las Vegas)
3:30pm - BYU @ Boise State
6:00pm - Utah Tech v. USC (at SMU)
Saturday
10:00am - Westminster @ Maryville
Noon - Utah v. Dartmouth at Rice-Eccles Stadium
Noon - BYU v. Simon Fraser (at Boise State)
4:00pm - Utah Tech v. Oklahoma (at SMU)
6:00pm - SUU v. Claremont (in Las Vegas)
Sunday
1:00pm - Utah Tech @ SMU
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Womens
It was a week for in-state rivalries for the women’s team, as the U took on Utah Valley, and BYU faced off with Utah State.
BYU hosted the Aggies in Provo, but the welcome didn’t last long. The team easily won the game 23-2, with 11 members of the team scoring goals in the match.
The Utes took on the Utah Valley Wolverines in Orem on Friday and walked away with a decisive 18-6 win.
The Westminster team is on the road this week. They suffered a tough loss at Rollins in Winter Park, Florida, on Sunday, 8-20. They will now go to play Flagler College on Tuesday before coming back home for a three-game streak at Dumke Field.
This week will continue the in-state theme as BYU travels to Salt Lake City to take on Utah on Wednesday. UVU hosts Utah State on Thursday. Utah Tech and Southern Utah travel to Colorado for a round robin with Colorado School of Mines, Air Force and the Denver Club.
Wednesday
7:00pm - BYU @ Utah
Thursday
6:00pm - Utah State @ Utah Valley
Saturday
8:00am - Utah Tech @ Colorado School of Mines
2:00pm - Southern Utah @ Colorado School of Mines
Sunday
8:00am - Utah Tech v. Denver Club @ CSM
Noon - Denver Club v. Southern Utah @ CSM
2:00pm - Utah Tech v. Air Force @ CSM
All scores/schedules for Utah college teams can be found here: scores.utahlaxreport.com
High School
Preseason Classification Polls Released
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We polled the coaches in each classification to see where they rank the teams coming into the season. Our regular Coaches Poll will be for all classifications and we won’t do this poll again since the RPI takes care of it for us.
Brighton and West Field are the first 5A faceoff of the season, playing in Taylor on Tuesday.
Skyridge will take on Timpanogos in a cross-classification match on Tuesday, and Park City and Lone Peak will face off on Wednesday. Also on Wednesday, Corner Canyon and Juan Diego will go toe-to-toe in a battle for Draper.
On Friday, KSL Sports Rewind will be streaming the West Field @ Olympus boys game on kslsports.com/watch. The game begins at 7:00pm.
This will be an interesting year for girls’ lacrosse in Utah. The 2025 season ended with the graduation of some of the state’s best players. How will their teams fill those holes, or what teams will step up to achieve dominance? There is also the issue of several schools changing divisions this year. With Highland going to 4A, will Bear River remain supreme?
Then there is the big question: Who will win the battle of wills between Olympus and Park City? This week, the Titans take on the Riverton Silverwolves, and the Miners play the Pleasant Grove Vikings, but we know the two teams will be circling each other all season.
Based in Park City, Minerstown is a Gym and a Community. For more info, please visit: minerstownpc.com
If you missed any of the action or you’re new here, you can read all our region previews here as we get the season underway: Region 11, Region 10, Region 9, Region 8, Region 7, Region 6, Region 5, Region 4, Region 3, Region 2, Region 1.
Also, be sure to tell your team photographers to start getting ready to submit pictures to our Stick Clicks feature. We’ll publish photos from around the community each week but we need your submissions! Learn more here.
From The Archives
I was digging through and old laptop hard drive the other day and I found some gems related to lacrosse in Utah. One of them is this play from 2014.
Jacob Mika, defenseman at Waterford, scooped up a ground ball in front of the goal and launched a 75-yard shot as time expired in the first quarter and stuck it in the back of the net. The play ended up as the No. 1 play on SportsCenter that night and received attention from ESPN, Yahoo Sports, Deadspin, Sports Illustrated and all the local media. I remember talking to the cameraman after who said, “I just wanted to make sure I kept the camera on the ball the whole time.” He was in shock that a clip he filmed was on ESPN.
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Notes
Adaptive Goalie Clinic
Park City native and University of Utah alumni, Connor Hollison, has started a goalie training company, Adaptive Goaltending Academy, and will be hosting the ‘Zion Goalie Summit’ in St. George on Friday, March 27th. More information can be found here.
Interview w/ Michelle Buechner
Last week I spoke with Skyridge Head Coach Michelle Buechner. On this episode we talked a lot about college lacrosse because she’s got a couple kids playing it, a couple kids committed, and we also talk about the synergies between youth and high school lacrosse. We talked about her playing in Virginia and at BYU and a bunch of different stuff.
Listen in your browser
Listen on Spotify
Listen on Apple Podcasts
Listen on YouTube
PLL & WLL
Last but not least, we hope you’ve been enjoying the PLL and WLL Championship Series. Each team is two games in and here’s how it looks so far.
PLL
California Redwoods (2-0)
Denver Outlaws (1-1)
New York Atlas (1-1)
Carolina Chaos (0-2)
WLL
California Palms (2-0)
New York Charging (1-1)
Maryland Charm (1-1)
Boston Guard (0-2)
Each team will play one more game on Thursday or Friday this week then the Semifinals will begin on Saturday then the Championships on Sunday. All games are on ESPN+.
That’s all for now, see you on the sidelines!