The Southern Utah University men’s lacrosse team is entering their third season of competition after the team spent the previous two seasons recruiting players and building their program. This year, many experienced players joined the team, while in previous years the roster was mostly made up of players new to the game. Though they are still recruiting, the team plans to focus their attention to the current season.
SUU traveled to Las Vegas to compete in an annual fall tournament hosted by Buku Events on Nov. 4. Southern Utah entered the tournament with only six returning players on their roster from last year. Though this was the first collegiate competition for a majority of the team, nearly every player on the roster has had multiple years of experience playing lacrosse. This raised the program’s expectations for the outcome of the tournament.
Senior midfielder Grant Hyde spoke about his team before the tournament. “My expectations going into this tournament were much higher than previous years,”he said. “We have picked up a lot of new talent and fresh players that have great lacrosse IQ and a feel for the game.”
University of San Diego
The University of San Diego started strong by winning the first faceoff and scored within the first few seconds. The Thunderbird defense struggled to give the ball to the offense, which led to several turnovers and a 8-3 loss.
SUU started to gain momentum on offense when attackman Ben Hassett scored their first point. Still leading 2-1, the USD offense quickly responded with another goal to make the game 3-1.
The offensive momentum was back with the Thunderbirds after senior midfielder Caden Houchin scored off an assist from freshman midfielder Christian Hegney.
SUU struggled to keep the San Diego offense away from the goal as USD pushed their lead to 5-2. With a few minutes remaining in the second half, Hyde stole the ball on a fast break and passed to sophomore attackman Mac Call who scored off the assist.
The USD offense scored another two goals to close out the game, finishing with a 8-3 score and giving SUU their first loss of the tournament.
Northern Arizona University
The Thunderbirds’ last matchup against NAU resulted in a 31-3 loss for SUU, but an electrifying start gave them the momentum they needed to pull off their first win.
After the loss to USD, head coach Nik Johnson gathered the team.
“We got the first game jitters out. Now nobody is new to the collegiate level of lacrosse, so let’s go out and play our game,” said Johnson.
SUU started the game aggressively on the defensive side. Hyde forced a turnover to give SUU an electric start. The other Thunderbirds quickly matched Hyde’s energy and forced several turnovers to give SUU momentum.
Call scored first, contributing on both sides of the ball. NAU capitalized on a defensive breakdown by SUU and found the back of the net to tie the game 1-1.
The Thunderbird offense found Call again, who quickly scored. A goal from incoming freshman Jesmir Verdiell followed to bring the lead up to 3-1.
NAU responded by scoring another goal, putting the score 3-2 heading into the second half.
SUU came out strong in the second half. The SUU defense continued to hold NAU back, giving the offense more opportunities to score. The offense truly came alive as Hassett and senior Max Danto both scored to gain a 5-2 lead.
NAU found their rhythm and scored two unanswered goals to close the gap 5-4. Danto and Hassett both scored again to bring the final score to 7-4, giving SUU their first win of the tournament in their three years.
University of California, Los Angeles
After an exciting win against NAU, SUU hoped to carry the energy into their toughest matchup of the tournament.
UCLA scored first, but Call quickly tied the game with the first goal for the Thunderbirds. The game soon became a battle of the better defense as both teams struggled to score.
The score drought came to an end when UCLA scored to take the lead 2-1. Both defenses continued to fight until Verdiell intercepted a pass by a UCLA defenseman and scored off a fast break to close the first half.
SUU carried momentum into the second half as they forced UCLA to turn the ball over. Both offenses struggled to keep the ball away from the opponents.
UCLA found the back of the net once again to bring their lead to 3-2 and used that energy to score again soon after. Down 4-2, SUU knew they had to make plays on the offensive side of the ball.
Hegney scored on a step down shot toward the end of the game and narrowed the gap 4-3.
A penalty on SUU gave UCLA the advantage as they played man-up and scored at the end of the game to finish the Thunderbirds off 5-3. This was the closest match of the night for UCLA..
Preview
Pleased with the results, Hyde said, “We expect fall to be rusty and slow-starting. Guys are getting back into the flow of the game and are testing the waters of the next level of play from high school to college. After the first game, the nerves cooled, and we settled into our game and came out with a big win. Overall, the tournament was a huge success.”
The team is expected to receive a few more returning players to add depth to their relatively small roster.
Average collegiate lacrosse roster sizes range anywhere from 25 to 40 players. With less than 20 players, the team is constantly putting in work to be conditioned enough to compete with the larger schools.
The program is always searching for new players to join. If students are interested in playing lacrosse, the team can be contacted through email at suumenslacrosse@gmail.com, or they can be found on Instagram @suumenslacrosse.
Practice is every Monday, Wednesday and Thursday from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. in the Eccles Coliseum for the remainder of the fall. Spring practices will begin in January and will be held Monday through Thursday at the same time and place.
Spring games are expected to begin at the end of February and will continue until the end of April.
“We’re very excited for what’s to come during the spring season,” said Hyde.
Author: Caden Houchin
Photographer: Matthew Verdiell
Editor: Anden Garfield
sports@suunews.net
