WCLA/MCLA Tournament Updates, Last Week of the High School Regular Season
WCLA/MCLA Tournament Updates, Last Week of the High School Regular Season
Issue 91 - Armchair Lacrosse Coach Checks In and a Rough Week for NCAA Teams
Good morning lacrosse fans. I can’t believe it’s the last week of the high school regular season. What an adventure this year has been!
I published two things last week that I’ll think you’ll enjoy. The first is a Boys High School Bracketology video. The second was a look at where your IMLAX fees go. I really enjoyed talking with Niki Harding, Dan Dugan and Shawn Maloney about the state of IMLAX. I learned a bunch of new things I think you will too.
As always, please visit our title sponsors Tribal West Lacrosse (website) & MinersTown Strength and Condition (website).
Armchair Lacrosse Coach: It’s not my job!
Editor’s Note: This segment is written by Brad Lavoie who grew up in the NE, played his collegiate lacrosse in Connecticut and has been involved with the Utah lacrosse community going all the way back to 2004.
I love our game. For a long time, I couldn’t say the words. Not out loud at least. After all, it’s not my game or our game - maybe not a “game” at all. These are just English words to describe how this “contrivance” fits into our culture. A culture of competition and winner takes all ideals. A zero-sum “game” where, in order for someone to win, someone else has to lose. How could this “game” mean so much to us in a world with so much more at stake? But that's the thing. It’s not a contrived activity to crown the kings and queens, it is medicine. A gift from the creator that has the power to heal the soul and I love it. Something important to remember is this gift was here long before most of our ancestors set foot on this piece of rock and it will be here long after we are gone. We are all basically stewards of the game in this time and place. We have an opportunity, as a community, to decide our path forward. The question is: What are we going to do with this opportunity?
I think about this question and my first inclination is to assume it will be answered by someone in a very different intellectual weight class than the one I currently occupy. With this, whatever pressure I may have felt is quickly lifted because it’s not my job.
There is an old story about four people named Everybody, Somebody, Anybody and Nobody. There was an important job to be done and Everybody was sure that Somebody would do it. Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it. Somebody got angry about that because it was Everybody’s job. Everybody thought Anybody could do it, but Nobody realized that Everybody wouldn’t do it. It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody when Nobody did what Anybody could have.
In light of recent behavior, events, emails, flags thrown and shots across the bow from the powers that be… Time to put on your big boy pants, start pointing with your thumbs, grab a shovel and get to work because it is your job and you are the problem. It’s on all of us. We control our fate. Sure, our behavior is likely indicative of larger societal problems no doubt but you are the coach and the buck stops at your desk. The culture of any organization is shaped and often defined by the worst behavior the leadership is willing to tolerate. What are we willing to tolerate? Everyone is watching.
— BL
Boys High School
The RPI has been shutoff so this is where things stood the last time it was live:
Boys 6A | Boys 5A | Boys 4A
As always, our polls are brought to you by Salty Lacrosse.
No. 1 Corner Canyon - The Chargers ended its season with a pair of 18-6 wins (Skyridge, American Fork) and the Region 4 title. The Chargers will next see action in the second round of the playoffs on May 19.
No. 2 Olympus - The Titans beat No. 4 Park City on Wednesday, 14-12. You can rewatch that game here. On Thursday the Titans beat Brighton, 13-6. Olympus will head to Skyline on Wednesday and host Highland on Friday.
No. 3 American Fork - The Cavemen beat Westlake on Tuesday, 18-6, then lost to No. 1 Corner Canyon, 18-6, and will wait to see how the bracket shakes out after completing a 13-2 regular season.
No. 4 Park City - The Miners lost to No. 2 Olympus on Wednesday, 14-12, then beat Skyline, 14-4 on Friday. Park City will face Timpview on Thursday and East on Friday.
No. 5 Davis - The Darts beat Syracuse, 20-3, and Roy, 16-4, this week. The lone challenge for the Darts is a Tuesday home game against Weber.
No. 6 Alta - Alta beat Lehi, 20-4, and Orem, 18-1, this week. The Hawks will host Timpanogos on Tuesday.
No. 7 Lone Peak - Lone Peak edged by Pleasant Grove on Tuesday, 16-12, then were challenged by Westlake on Thursday, winning 12-9. The Knights will travel to Brighton on Tuesday.
No. 8 Bountiful - Ready for a tongue twister? Bountiful beat Box Elder by 9 and Bonneville by 20 this week. Okay, not the best, but it works. The Redhawks face Northridge on Monday, Viewmont on Wednesday and Woods Cross on Friday.
No. 9 Mountain Ridge - Mountain Ridge was upset on Tuesday by Bingham, 6-4, then trounced Herriman, 15-6. The last game for the Sentinels is Thursday against Riverton.
No. 10 Fremont - Fremont beat Roy, 19-9, on Tuesday and Farmington, 12-10, on Thursday. The Silverwolves are away at Clearfield on Tuesday and away at Farmington on Thursday.
Girls High School
This week had some surprising moves, Olympus beating Brighton pushed Olympus into No. 3 while it took Brighton down to No.5. Also, No. 10 West Jordan swapped places with No. 8 Davis.
No. 1 Park City was challenged this week against No. 3 Olympus. Park City had their closest game of the season, winning 11-5 and a great defeat over Skyline, 19-4. Next up for the Miners is a huge home game Tuesday against Brighton. These two teams will bring some serious heat to the field. Followed by an away game at Highland Wednesday and ending the week at East Friday.
No. 2 Skyridge had a great win over Davis this Saturday. The Falcons traveled to Davis high and defeated them, 18-5. The last game for the Falcons before playoffs is Thursday at Wasatch. Fun fact about the Falcons head coach “I have twin 2 two boys and besides lacrosse, I also love running marathons” - Collin Gill
No. 3 Olympus had a busy week with three games, first a win over Copper Hills, second a loss to Park City and lastly a win over Brighton. The Titans will be battling in three games this week, Monday against Pleasant Grove, Wednesday against Skyline, and ending with Waterford Thursday. Fun fact about the Titans head coach, “I’ve gone by “Zana” since I was 3 or 4 years old, but my real name is Alexandra.”- Zana Spratling
No. 4 Mountain Ridge had two great wins this week with the first being Bingham, 19-2. The second was Herriman, 19-15. The Sentinels play their final game before play-offs at Riverton Thursday. Fun fact about the Sentinels head coach “I’ve run my own waxing business for the past 4 years”- Angie Brescia
No. 5 No. Brighton fell to No. 3 Olympus Friday night, 7-19. This is Brighton's second loss this season, the first being Skyridge earlier this season. The Bengals have three games this week starting with Park City Tuesday, East Wednesday and Skyline Friday. Fun facts about the Bengals head coach “My dog’s name is Nike because I love Nike gear. I am ambidextrous - helped in lacrosse a lot! I’m married to a twin that one of my former students set me up with.”- Melissa Nash
No. 6 Lone Peak Had an outstanding win over Pleasant Grove, 12-3. The Knights last game before playoffs was against Westlake beating them, 18-8. Fun fact about the Knights head Coach “I’m a concert pianist and have performed in music conservatories in China”- Weslie Lundell.
No. 7 Corner Canyon was defeated by Skyridge Tuesday, 13-16 and beat American Fork Thursday, 22-12. The Chargers will be playing Alta on Wednesday and Davis on Friday. Fun facts about the Chargers head coach, “I have been to the pyramids in Cairo (did climb on them before they stopped letting tourists do that), been to Stonehenge in London, been to the Vatican and Rome, Canada, Mexico, South America and all over the US. All before the age of 15. Also, I do have an acting background and once had a big role in a show at the Hale Center theatre.”- Matt Kenning
No. 8 Davis won 2 out of their 3 games this week. Tuesday a win over Syracuse, 11-5. Thursday beating Roy, 14-10. Saturday a hard loss over No. 2 Skyridge. Next up for the Darts is Monday against Clearfield, Tuesday against Weber and Friday against Corner Canyon.
No. 9 Bear River had some light competition with Logan Wednesday night, winning 30-0. Also beating Green Canyon, 21-1. Next up for the Bears is Wednesday against Mountain Crest and Friday against Sky View. Fun fact about the Bears head coach “ I have been on Air Force One while serving in the United States Air Force at Ramstein Air Base Germany,” Jeremy Webb.
No. 10 West Jordan experienced some hard and aggressive competition against Riverton ultimately losing, 14-6. Next for the Jaguars is Tuesday against West and Thursday against Bingham.
This week I got to do something new, fun and a little scary! I met up with KSL Sports to assist with the commentating of the Davis vs Syracuse Tuesday night. It was so fun that I’ll be joining KSL Sports on Monday for Olympus vs Pleasant Grove. Tune in on KSL Sports Live to watch the battle of Olympus vs Pleasant Grove go down.
Davis vs Syracuse. The Darts were sweating the first half of the game having to respond to the Titans amazing draw control. Ultimately Darts pulled threw with the win. But how did they get there? I met with Coach Hekking after the game “that is the best I’ve seen my girls all season. Morgan Bunch (Goalie) was by far the MVP for this game. With her killer saves and clears she made the game flow much easier. Morgan Bunch had a monster of a game. The defense crushed it and shutting down Brooklyn Suttlemyre isn’t an easy task to do, and they did it well. I want the team to take this energy they have tonight and know that’s what’s expected of them every game. Taking that energy into our next game Saturday against Skyridge. They are the No. 1 ranked team in our division, and that defense today needs to show up to stop the Buechner sisters.” Flipping the field over to Coach Suttlemyre: “We played a hard game but ran out of gas in the second half. Happy with the efforts, just little mistakes that need to be cleaned up. With our team having a large majority of the draws, the first half was great. That was something we worked on from our last game against Davis; they had over 50% of the draws won. Macie Wood was one of the only Davis players that had a handful of clean and won draws. All we can ask is that there is improvement with every game. With numerous shots hitting the pile, What I tell my girls is keep shooting. My theory is to keep shooting, especially with a strong goalie like Davis has.” We talked a bit more about Coach Suttlemyre's daughter Brooklyn Suttlemyre on her attending SVU in the Fall and what his plans are, at the moment “to be determined”. Coach Suttlemyre loves his team, wants to watch his children play and maybe even officiate.
Corner Canyon vs Skyridge The Falcons take the win once more,16-13. This go-around was a strong fight between the Chargers and the Falcons. Skyridge scored 16 goals in their game Tuesday, ironic moment is that 3 weeks ago they also scored 16 goals. Where the chance came from was the chargers. Coach Matt Kenning gives his whole defensive end the MVP award for this game. The Chargers had a handful of turnovers and swiped ground balls which helped them keep the Falcons out. The Chargers are proud of how incredibly accurate their offense is, placing the perfect shots, taking care of the ball and winning many ground balls. “ Despite our record, we are a great team that no one will want to play in the playoffs.” Said Kenning. The Falcons were really confident and aggressive on the ground balls - something the team has been lackadaisical on in the past, fighting for those balls. As mentioned numerous times, River and Haven made a switch on the draw that really gave us the edge. Kudos to them for making that switch and executing on the draw. Skyridge selected Haven Buechner as their MVP of this game. “Early on, she moved from being on the draw circle to taking draws. She would take some lefty, some righty, and it was just the switch we needed to gain the edge over Corner on the draw control. It made a huge difference. Win the draw, win the game. '' Coach Gill. When looking back on the season for the Falcons they stood tall throughout all their changes. “ I feel like our team has done really well this season. We have grown and improved throughout the season, with some ups and downs along the way. I am most excited that our team has played really well thus far, but we have not played at our potential yet. It excites me to know there is more this team can do, and it looks like things are coming together for us to reach that potential. Next season we will have an entirely new varsity squad. (losing 9 varsity seniors). We will have to make some adjustments to build the capacity of new players and harness the strengths the team develops with these new players. “ Coach Gill
Riverton vs West Jordan this game was, to say aggressive is an understatement. The Silverwolves won this go around with strength and teamwork, 14-6. Silverwolfs “ won the draw, won the game” the team had phenomenal draw control throughout the game. The team continued to grow their skills by working on sliding early for the ball. “Overall it’s been a very mental season - we’ve had some ups and downs but have performed very well overall!” Coach Joey The Silverwolfes chose Madi Sorensen as their MVP against the Jaguars. Madi led Riverton with 8 saves in the first half and only allowed 1 goal during that time. She ended the game with a 71.4% save percentage. Riverton takes this energy into their end of a season and hopes to end this year on a good note.
Mens College
It was a rough weekend for the NCAA teams in the state. Utah fell to Robert Morris in overtime, 18-17, on Saturday in the ASUN Conference Championship game. Utah finished with a 10-4 record and just shy of the NCAA Tournament.
Westminster hosted the RMAC Championships this weekend but fell to Colorado Mesa, 16-10, in the championship game. The Griffins also finished 10-4 on the season.
The good news is that we still have more college lacrosse to watch at the NCAA level while also watching BYU, Utah Club and Utah State compete in the MCLA Tournament this week.
BYU earned the No. 2 seed and will take on No. 15 TCU. The game will begin at 9:45 AM on Monday (today). I’ll be on the call with Dave Leach. You can watch the games here. Jordan Harris published an excellent preview of the game here. Both teams beat Texas A&M in the regular season. BYU beat Concordia-Irvine by 1 goal while TCU lost to Concordia-Irvine by 17(!) goals.
In Division II, two teams from Utah will represent the state. The Utah Club team earned the No. 5 seed and will take on No. 12 North Dakota State. The teams had two common opponents, which isn’t always the best metric to judge teams by, but nevertheless, we’re here: Utah beat Montana State twice by 2 and 7 goals, NDSU only beat them by 1. They also both played Utah State. Utah beat the Aggies by 5 and 1 goal while NDSU lost to the Aggies by 7.
Speaking of the Aggies, Utah State was given the No. 10 seed and will face No. 7 Rhode Island. This is an interesting matchup and I really think the Aggies could pull off the upset. Rhode Island is 9-2 with their two losses coming to MCLA D-I teams. It’s going to be a great game!
Both of these games can be streamed here.
Womens College
The WCLA Tournament concluded last week with three teams from Utah representing the state. In D-I, BYU beat Flordia State, 13-9, in the first round then lost to Georgia, 8-3, in the second round. For the Cougars, Christina Halversen was named a First Team All-American. Utah lost in the first round, 14-7, to UCLA.
In D-II, UVU was the top seed and had a first-round bye. They then beat Providence, 11-10, in the second round before being upset in the semifinals by Vermont, 10-9. UVU had 4 First Team All-Americans. Maya Lightfoot was named the Player of the Year in Division II.
WCLA D-I Award Winners | WCLA D-II Award Winners
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)