Vandal men’s club lacrosse gets back on track with two weekend wins
Just minutes into the overtime, midfielder Charlie Dolar sliced through the Huskies defense and fired a shot low to hit the back of the net for his fifth goal to give the Vandals the victory.
Brenda Ely | Argonaut
The Men’s Lacrosse team celebrates a win in overtime against University of Washington Sunday afternoon.
Idaho came into the game off a 23-2 victory against the Great Falls Argos Friday to improve their record to 3-2 but still without a conference victory. Their next opponent was the Washington Huskies Sunday, where the Vandals grabbed their first conference win.
The Vandals started the game out slow going down early 5-1 but, did not give up as Idaho attackman, AJ Gravel, netting in two goals to end the first quarter at a score of 5-3.
“I am going to blame it on the Sunday at noon game,” Idaho coach Sammy Vogel-Seidenberg said of the slow start. “For some reason we just don’t come out fast in those games. If you look at Friday’s game, yeah they are not a great team, but we came out flying right off the bat and today we came out flat.”
From there on, Idaho stepped up the offensive pressure led by Dolar, who netted his first two goals of the match, and Idaho ended the first half on a seven-to-three run to put the score at 8-8 going into half.
The drama did not stop there as both teams came into the second half firing. The score went back and forth until things started to look a little grim for the Vandals as the Huskies gained a two-goal lead with just minutes left to play. Idaho was not deterred and answered back with two unanswered goals late to send the game into a golden goal overtime.
Who other to get the game winning than the hot handed Dolar, who had netted his third and fourth goal in the second half. Idaho held on with stout defense not allowing the Huskies to get a shot in overtime. The offense kept patient firing off a few shots before regaining possession and finding Dolar through the center of the field to net the game-winning goal.
Idaho improved its record to 4-2 overall on the season and 1-2 in conference. Up next for the Vandals is a six-game road trip including another tough top 25 matchup against the San Diego State Aztecs.
“Honestly, I am pretty excited for the road trip,” Vogel-Seidenberg said. “I love our home field and our fans, but the biggest things for road trips for me is the team bonding. The guys are stuck in rooms together, on buses and in vans and that travel brings the guys together.”
Ryan Pavel can be reached at [email protected]