Idaho drops league game against No.13-ranked Simon Fraser
The Idaho men’s club lacrosse team established an offensive rhythm in the fourth quarter of Sunday’s game against No. 13 Simon Fraser, but the late goals were too little too late as the Clan beat the Vandals 18-11 in a Pacific Northwest Collegiate Lacrosse League (PNCLL) contest in Moscow.
Nate Mattson | Argonaut
Junior Deric Wilson dives to keep the ball inbounds during
Sunday’s game against Simon Fraser. The Idaho men’s club lacrosse team lost the game 18-11.
After winning its first two games, Idaho (2-2 overall, 0-2 PNCLL) lost its last two to the current top two teams in the PNCLL — Simon Fraser (5-1, 3-0) and Oregon State (4-0, 2-0). Oregon State was unranked when it beat Idaho 19-7 Feb. 21 in Moscow, but the Beavers are ranked No. 17 according to the Feb. 24 Under Armour MCLA Coaches Poll. A new poll is expected to be released Tuesday.
The Vandals will try to get back in the win column when they take on Great Falls at 6 p.m. Friday at the SprinTurf and Washington at 12 p.m. Sunday at the SprinTurf.
“We got two big games next weekend,” Idaho coach Sammy Vogel-Seidenberg said. “We got another big conference game next Sunday and we’ll hope to rebound and get our first conference win. So, I’m pretty confident in this team still, and they got a lot of heart, and they got a lot of drive, so they’ll get it back.”
Senior midfielder Patrick Tunison led the Vandals with four goals against Simon Fraser.
“We were getting our butts handed to us until the fourth quarter, so it was a pretty rough game,” Tunison said. “You can’t come out like that against a top 25 team in the nation and hope to have a good result.”
Senior goalie Craig Patrick had 20 saves for the Vandals. Patrick made some saves, especially early in the game, which appeared to be easy goals for the Clan. Instead, the senior from Eagle, Idaho, was able to either gobble the ball up or deflect it away from the net.
“He’s the backbone of our team,” Vogel-Seidenberg said of Patrick. “He’s a big player for us. He’s really important for us to be successful and he always keeps us in games, and we just got to do a better job at helping him.”
Nate Mattson | Argonaut
Senior Colton Raichl attempts to block a pass from Fraser’s goalie Jeremy Lashar on Sunday afternoon.
Tunison put the Vandals up 1-0, but this was the only Idaho lead of the game. The Clan proceeded to go on a 5-0 run to take a 5-1 lead.
Freshman midfielder Charlie Dolar stopped the bleeding for the Vandals with a goal to make the score 5-2. Simon Fraser led 8-3 at the half.
One of the bright spots of the game for Idaho came during the fourth quarter.
The Clan extended its lead to 16-5 after scoring the first four goals of the fourth quarter. However, Idaho found an offensive groove partway through the quarter as it ended the game on a 6-2 run.
While the Clan outshot the Vandals 34-17 in the first three quarters combined, Idaho fired 20 shots toward the opponent’s net in the fourth quarter compared to Simon Fraser’s eight shots on goal.
“I think guys just kind of finally found their confidence and that goes a long way,” Tunison said. “We really fluctuate in between confident and unconfident. So once people find their confidence we can really flow as an offense.”
Vogel-Seidenberg said one of the things he wants the Vandals to improve on is playing their own game.
“We’re not playing our game,” Vogel-Seidenberg said. “We’re letting the other teams dictate how we play, and that’s the problem right now.”
Garrett Cabeza can be reached at [email protected]