The latest with the Utes

Men's NCAA

University of Utah Men’s Lacrosse

by: Dane Stewart

Utah kicked off the ASUN Conference Tournament with a blazing start against Cleveland State, and cruised to a 21-5 win. Utah continued their recent history of peppering opposing goalies with shot after shot, as the Utes notched one of their most lopsided victories in program history.

Utah started off the game with a 6-0 burst in the opening quarter, and extended the lead to 12-0 midway through quarter 2. Even in the blazing start the Utah offense showed great balance, with 8 different Utes scoring in the first half en route to a 13-1 halftime lead.

Utah continued their domination in the second half, as 6 different Utes finished with multiple goals, lead by Tyler Bradbury’s 3 goals. Colin Lenskold finished with a career-best .769 save percentage. It was the 5^thstraight game with Utah finishing with over 50 shots, and the 63 shots tied a season-high for Utah. 

In the ASUN Championship on Sunday, Utah had to take on Jacksonville, and this, the second matchup, played out similar to the first, with Utah coming away with a 16-13 win, and the second straight Conference Championship, and NCAA Tournament berth.

Ryan Stines helped Utah jump out to an early lead, scoring the first two goals of the game, and netting four of them in the first half.  Utah built a 9-6 lead at the break. Utah built the lead to 7 goals in the third quarter after a couple goals by Tyler Bradbury, and then had a 7 goal lead against early in the fourth after Jared Andreala scored this second goal of the game. And then came déjà vu.

The Jacksonville Dolphins mad a fourth quarter surge, just as they did when these two teams played in Jacksonville in March. The Dolphins drew as close as 2 with 3:00 to play. Colin Lenskold made a three saves in the final minutes, and got some help from the post, as the Utah defense stymied Jacksonville, and Andreala would score his third goal of the game in the waning seconds propelling Utah to the win.

Sunday night Utah learned of their postseason placement, the Utes will travel to the Tar Heel State to take on #2 Duke on Saturday, May 11 in the NCAA Tournament.