The Little Things: Utah Valley Beats Westminster
by Jac Coyne | Lacrosse Magazine Online Staff | Coyne Archive | Twitter
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| By doing the little things well, Utah Valley will be making its first appearance in the title game since 2005. |
COMMERCE CITY, Colo.– There aren’t
any secrets left when you meet for a third time.
It’s all about the little things, and Utah Valley won
the majority of the small battles on its way to a 9-7 victory over
Rocky Mountain Lacrosse Conference rival Westminster in the first
MCLA Division II semifinal at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park.
“It’s all about hustle,” said Kevin Perkins, Utah
Valley head coach. “My guys pushed to the last minute. From
the beginning of the year we’ve been committed to contesting
every inch of the field.”
“The ground balls belonged to them,” said Westminster
head coach Mason Goodhand. “We played the ground balls; they
won the ground balls. That puts a lot of pressure on having high
quality possessions and we showed the impatience of a young
team.”
Westminster was also without the services of Josh Condas, the
Griffins top offensive threat, who was sidelined after
sustaining an injury in the quarterfinal game against Dayton. But
it’s hard to tell if that would have been enough as UV
attackman Chad Frost was running the show, notching three assists
in the first half and two goals in the second half.
“He’s my go-to guy,” said Perkins of Frost, an
All-American. “I’m not going to lie: if I need a goal
in the last seconds of the game, I’m going with Chad
Frost.”
Utah Valley attempted to put the game away in the first three
minutes of the contest on goals by Trever McCann and Peter
Santamaria. Combined with Westminster’s inability to stay
on its collective feet – the Griffins had five
turnovers in the first half after players fell down – it
looked like the Wolverines might coast.
Westminster’s Gian Sexsmith stopped the Wolverines’
early run by picking up a lose ball in front of the
Wolverines’ cage and bouncing it past Cory Heward with 10
minutes left in the first quarter. Four minutes later it was
Sexsmith again, bouncing one under Heward’s stick to knot the
game at two.
After the two teams traded goals in the second quarter, Santamaria
wound up from 16 yards and unleashed a wicked shot on the extra man
that beat WC goalie Dallas McLellan high to give UV the 4-3 edge
heading into the break.
The Wolverines opened up the second half with consecutive goals by
Cam Peterson and McCann to push the lead to three with 5:57 left in
the third quarter. On the brink of again letting the game slip
away, the Griffins answered.
Jacob Wayman flipped a bouncer past McLellan and, after Utah Valley
gained some momentum by killing of an unsportsmanlike conduct
penalty, Jimmy Nguyen drove hard to the left and zipped a shot into
the bottom corner for his second goal of the game to trim the
margin to 6-5 a minute into the final frame.
McCann and Frost would score five mintues apart, pushing UV’s
lead back to three at 8-5, but the Griffins would once again answer
the bell. Jake Arthur drove to the middle and scored with 3:24
remaining before Sexsmith polished off his hat trick with a 15-yard
rip to again cut the margin to one, 8-7, with 1:50 left.
After an empty possession by Westminster, Utah Valley finally
subdued its rival as Frost bulled his way around the back of the
net and flung a shot over McLellan’s head for the 9-7
final.
Despite the loss, McLellan was superb in net for Westminster,
finishing with 13 saves on the afternoon. Heward made seven stops
in the winning effort for Utah Valley. Bryan Tyrell had a goal and
three assists for the Wolverines, giving Utah Valley the most
important decision in the three meetings this spring.
And it was a game that lived up to two strong teams meeting for the
third time.
“We beat them once and they didn’t like it, so they
beat us for the [RMLC] hardware,” said Goodhand. “We
were telling our kids that they were going to overlook us, they
were going to overlook us. They didn’t overlook us; they
respected us. A lot of these guys have played together so when we
get together, it’s really about the spirit of the game."
