By David Rueckert
The BYU lacrosse team stumbled through Tuesday night, April 8”s match-up with Utah State and waited until the fourth quarter to put the Aggies away, 10-5.
BYU”s second string played the complete game for the Cougars and had an eye-opening experience – they do not dominate on the lacrosse field.
Coach Jason Lamb said the team came to the field without deciding that they were going to play lacrosse.
“This was as bad as I”ve ever seen,” Lamb said. “We played soft the whole game.”
Sophomore midfielder Jesse Hier put the Cougars on the board 40 seconds into the game. Six minutes later, the score was 3-0.
Freshman goalie Christian Kikumoto stuffed an Aggie one minute later in a one-on-one situation.
After that, however, apathy set in.
For the next 24 minutes, the Aggies pushed the Cougars around on the field. Ground balls, clears and fast breaks were all dictated by Utah State.
When the first half ended, the score was tied 3-3.
Lamb was surprisingly calm in the halftime huddle.
“I didn”t want to go ballistic,” Lamb said. “That doesn”t work. These guys have to make up their own mind that they”re going to play.”
Lamb”s chalk talk had an effect on a few players.
Freshman midfielder Scott Dean scored, starting a 4-0 run over the quarter”s first seven minutes that put the Aggies out of the game.
On defense, Curtis Salmon played solidly throughout the night, deflecting passes, winning ground balls and clearing the ball. Kikumoto continued his brilliant play in the second half, stuffing point-blank shots and deftly turning away other Aggie shots.
“[Kikumoto and Salmon] really impressed me,” Lamb said. “They showed to me they”re ready to play at the next level. Mark Stevenson also showed athleticism that says he”s ready to contribute.”
Utah State managed two goals to end the third quarter, making the score 7-5.
The Cougar defense maintained its solid play in the final quarter though, preventing the Aggies from taking any quality shots.
Freshman middie Ryan Frank slashed through the crease and buried a left-handed shot three minutes into the quarter.
Junior attackman David Malan got into the action by finishing a feed on the crease, and with seven seconds left in the game he beat his defender and scored his second goal of the night.
Lamb said the team will turn to its bench Friday night against the Utes, trusting that it will approach the game with a firm decision to contribute.
