Despite the April 21 difficult loss to rival Boise State, Idaho club lacrosse (3-8, 1-2 PNCLL) still holds its own destiny heading into the final weekend of the regular season.
Tony Marcolina | Argonaut Defender Harry Birak passes during drills at practice Thursday on the SprinTurf. The Vandals play University of Washington at 1 p.m. Saturday on the SprinTurf.
The club will host the University of Washington (3-9, 2-2 PNCLL) at 1 p.m. Saturday on the SprinTurf, and will need a victory to propel them into the PNCLL final four playoff game that will be hosted in Seattle.
The Huskies will be a tough test for Idaho, but the team is confident having beat the Huskies in the fall season.
“They’ve always been a good team. It’s our fourth year playing them and this fall was the first time we’ve ever beaten them,” senior Ben Frey said. “We’ve got them on our home turf this time.”
Despite concerns about UW’s attacking capabilities, Idaho is more concerned with what they can do to improve and impose its will on the game.
“We’ve had really good team chemistry. Even in the face of adversity we don’t get the best field space or practice times, we’re out here every morning having a good time,” assistant coach Sean Harrington said. “We’re more focusing on what we are doing. Against Boise State we had bad mental errors late in the game. We’re trying to clean those up, get our fundamentals down.”
Last weekend against Boise State it was the little things and defensive lapses that Idaho players and coaches said let the game get away from them.
“That was a pretty rough game, we fought hard and we fought well, in the end we just didn’t possess enough on the offensive side of the ball,” Eric Larsen said. “It allowed them to get too many easy shots from the top of the box that went in.”
Against Washington, offensive possession will be key, he said.
“U-Dub has a pretty strong midfield game. I really don’t think they’re going to bring anything that substantial to the table that will throw us out of our groove,” Larsen said.
The mood around practice Thursday morning was relaxed, with Idaho focused on what needs improvement.
“Right now we’re pretty casual, but I think it’s because we know what we need to work on and we have been. We’ve beat it through the bush, it’s come out the other side, it’s kind of nice. Come Saturday we’ll be ready. We fared well against UW in the fall so if we put it all together we stand a good chance of winning,” Frey said.
If Idaho defeats Washington, it will coincidently head to the city where UW hails the next weekend for the playoffs.
Sean Kramer can be reached at [email protected]