For having such a young team and first-year coaching staff, BYU women’s lacrosse has done remarkably well.
The Cougars went 8-2 during their regular season and headed into the Rocky Mountain Women’s Lacrosse League (RMWLL) conference playoffs with the No. 1 seed.
The Cougars beat Utah Valley 21-9 in their first playoff game and moved on to face Utah in the RMWLL championship game. BYU ultimately fell short to the Utes 9-8 in a game that came down to the wire.
“Our team went into playoffs this weekend hot. Coming off two big wins in Colorado last weekend, we are peaking at the right time,” said head coach Melissa Nash. “We were firing on all cylinders —from goalie to low attack, we were feeling ready for playoffs. And it showed in our first game against UVU.”
In the game against UVU, nine different Cougars scored. Midfielder Hanna Nelson led the team with five goals, while Elise Cardall and Whitney Holt each added three goals.
It was a team win for BYU as almost 50% of their goals were assisted, as well as every player on the team getting playing time, which allowed the Cougars to head into the championship game against Utah with some added momentum.
The players and coaches were certainly excited to face Utah again, as it gave them a chance to redeem themselves from their regular season matchup where the Cougars lost 17-9.
Despite falling short in the championship game, BYU was outstanding.
The Cougars held Utah to their third lowest scoring output on the season by only allowing nine points. Two freshmen, Cardall and Eloise Malley, were given the task of defending two of Utah’s top scorers and were successful in slowing them down.
Goalie Anna Kreipl was also exceptional and kept BYU in the game right from the start. In the first quarter, the Utes took six penalty shots but were unable to capitalize with Kreipl saving every shot attempt.
On offense, Nelson led the team once again with three timely goals, often bringing the momentum back in BYU’s favor. Midfielder Melia Gunnell came off the bench to replace an injured Taya Chalk and ended up scoring the game-tying goal to make the score 8-8 in the fourth quarter.
“I am really proud of our team for giving Utah a game. Utah is super senior heavy, a veteran team who has played together for four years,” said Nash. “Watching our fresh team, with a huge chunk of freshman, and a new coaching staff play at such a high level on such a big stage is really cool.”