Utes lacrosse team out to make history at NCAA Tournament
SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4 Sports) – In just five full seasons, the Utah lacrosse team has become one of the top programs in the country.
After a 12-4 season and its second straight ASUN Conference Championship, the Utes will play #2 Duke in the NCAA Tournament this Saturday. Utah made its first NCAA Tournament last year, losing to Notre Dame in the first round, 20-7.
“Still being somewhat of a young program, last year being our first experience in the NCAA tournament, we returned quite a lot from last year,” head coach Andrew McMinn said.
“I think just experience,” said senior Tyler Bradbury, who scored 20 goals this season. “Now that we’ve been to the NCAA Tournament, now that we’ve won two conference championships, I think that we have a really strong group of seniors. Now just add in that experience and adding that comfortability together.”
Utah lacrosse team looking to shock Notre Dame
Last year, the goal was just to make the NCAA Tournament, which they did. But now as one of just 16 teams left playing, the Utes, who have won nine straight games, are out to win their ever first tournament game.
“We couldn’t be more confident,” McMinn said. “I mean, we’ve put so much trust in our guys. That was the talk that we had after the conference championships. We didn’t really feel like we had to do too much as coaches other than give them the game plan and let them go out and execute.”
The Utes are the third highest scoring team in the nation, averaging 15.31 goals per game. So the plan is to run the 2nd-ranked Blue Devils, who played for the national title last year, into the ground.
“They’ve been a perennial team throughout the years and have won national championships,” McMinn said. “But we feel like we can compete with the top teams in the country. Our style of play is hard to prepare for and we’re one of the fastest pace teams in the country.”
“It’s just, you know, not having those nerves, being ready to play and not playing scared,” said defenseman Joey Boyslton.
As the most western D1 lacrosse program in the nation, the Utes rapid success has helped spread the game to this part of the country, and has really helped recruiting. Ryan Stines left lacrosse-obsessed North Carolina to play in Utah, where he was named the ASUN Conference Player of the Year.
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“That was the part of the vision when I initially decided to come here” said Stines, who led the Utes with 47 goals this season. “That’s the vision that all of our commits and current players have. It’s it’s to do something special, to do something for the first time and and that’s an opportunity that most people don’t get to.”
#24 Utah and #2 Duke will play at 12:30 p.m. MT Saturday in Durham, North Carolina on ESPNU.
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