BYU men's lacrosse starts its first road trip of the season Saturday, heading to Colorado Mesa University to play three different schools.
The Cougars will face Adams State, Colorado State, and the home team Mavericks in what will be an action-packed day.
BYU head coach Matt Schneck prepped his players for these games on Friday morning by running situational drills.
The starters were on one team, and the B squad played as their opponent. Schneck would call out how much time was left in the hypothetical game and what the score was to have the players practice adjusting ot the game scenario on the fly.
"It always comes back down to just Lacrosse IQ," said Schneck.
One thing that is big thing for this coaching staff is the communication with other players on the field.
"We notice that a lot of times when guys are quiet, it's because they don't know what's going on," Schneck said. "We want to help these guys improve their lacrosse IQ so that they can feel confident."
This team normally faces a lot of turnover with players leaving for and coming back from missions, as well as players getting married or deciding to focus on academics.
Something unique about this year's squad is that there are 11 seniors on the team, including seven in the starting lineup. This has put some extra pressure on these players to be leaders of the team and also get results because they have been in these positions before with the team.
"I think [this weekend] is a good test for us," said senior forward captain Gavin Taylor. "It's a good opportunity to see how we hold up in those scenarios."
The team ended Friday morning practice on a fun note, awarding a "juice player of the week" for a player that the captains have seen standing out and working extra hard.
The player selected then gets the gauntlet of water bottles and coolers dumped on him, but is awarded with a half-gallon of BYU Creamery orange juice for his efforts.
The team starts their travel to Grand Junction late Friday evening.