Idaho to play first round playoff matchup against No. 4 ranked Oregon State
After falling to Boise State in the season finale, the Idaho men’s club lacrosse team slides to the No. 4 seed in the conference to face No. 4 ranked Oregon State in the first round of the conference playoffs.
The Vandals did not show a strong end in the season finale against big-time rival Boise State, as they fell early 10-3 going into halftime. A small push in the second half brought back the game within five goals, but the Broncos proved to be too much and finished off the Vandals 20-11.
Nate Mattson | Argonaut
Freshman Craig Patrick defends his goal during practice Thursday evening at the ASUI Kibbie Dome.
“We had a lot of unforced errors early, which is pretty uncharacteristic of us,” junior Blake Batman said. “You could tell a couple of guys were really nervous. It was their first game against BSU and we have a really young team this year.”
Even with the loss, the Vandals are still playoff bound, led behind coach Sammy Vogel-Seidenberg who is only in his second year of coaching Idaho. The last time the Vandals made it to the playoffs was 2012, but never have they made it in on a winning record until this year, finishing the season at 8-6.
With a loss to Boise State, the Vandals now face the matchup against a top-five opponent in the nation, Oregon State. The Beavers lead the conference with an undefeated 10-0 record on the season and 7-0 in conference.
Oregon State has a couple of big key wins outside the conference that proved its worth. Back in February, the Beavers took on the then-ranked No. 8 Arizona Wildcats and defeated them 8-7, as well as defeating Cal Poly 10-5, who finished off the season ranked No. 11.
The last matchup between the two teams was in February when the Beavers came into Moscow and handed Idaho its first loss of the season 19-7.
“We are going to have to be solid in transition,” Vogel-Seidenberg said. “We have to slow them down and make them play our game. Offensively, we got to pace ourselves and take our time with it and defensively we just have to slow them down.”
Nate Mattson | Argonaut
The men’s lacrosse team practices Thursday evening at the ASUI Kibbie Dome for their upcoming playoffs.
The bright side for the Vandals is that Oregon State will be without their second leading scorer and reigning divisional freshman of the year, Kevin Cathcart. He had to miss his remaining three games of the season due to an injury he suffered last month.
Cathcart went off for three goals and one assist against the Vandals in the last matchup proving to be a nuisance to the Idaho defense. But its attack will still be potent as the team still has leading scorer Ben Dill.
“It will definitely help our defense out a lot having to worry about one less threat or one less great player out there that is a potential first-team all-conference guy or even national all-American first (or) second-team type,” Batman said.
Ryan Pavel can be reached at [email protected]