The BYU lacrosse team returned home after a tiring, six-day trip to Arizona where it faced three challenging opponents.
Coming into last week, BYU was undefeated and ranked No. 2 in the nation. Playing against Grand Canyon University on Thursday was both a physical game and the closest game the Cougars had had up to that point. BYU came out still undefeated but preparing to face another tough team on Saturday. Arizona State was ranked No. 6 in the nation before facing BYU. In a hard-fought game BYU lost 7–12, its first loss of the season.
BYU's Mike Fabrizio takes a shot in the Cougars victory against the Utah State Aggies. BYU now sits on an 8–1 record after its three games in Arizona. (Photo by Elliott Miller)
'There are a lot of thing that we learned from losing to ASU,' sophomore attackman Mike Fabrizio said. 'There are a lot of things we decided to implement for our next game. We didn't have a lot of time to practice before, but we changed a few things.'
Monday night was the last game of this three-game trip, and it started with the same fire and intensity as the prior two games.
The University of Arizona started the game with two goals, but BYU fired back with Fabrizio scoring his first of four goals. The first quarter ended with Arizona in the lead, but the second only evened the score at 4–4 before breaking out at the half.
At the start of the third quarter BYU stepped up, scoring three goals in a row and giving them a 7–6 edge going into the final quarter of the game. The intensity never let up for the Cougars. They scored another three goals in the fourth quarter compared to the one goal Arizona scored. BYU won 10–7 to finish its trip to Arizona.
'We played with a lot of good intensity, and a lot of people stepped up,' freshman faceoff specialist Andrew Welling said.
BYU now has a record of 8–1, but continues its travels to California in another three-game trip starting Monday, March 25. The lacrosse team will play its next home game Saturday, March 30, against the challenging University of Colorado.