Utah Lacrosse Season Outlook

1/28/2019 7:03 AM | Lacrosse

The Utah lacrosse team completes a two-year process transitioning from a club sport to an NCAA sport with its inaugural season in 2019.

Leading the Utes is veteran coach Brian Holman in his first head coaching job. Holman has previously coached at and won NCAA titles with lacrosse powers Johns Hopkins and North Carolina. Joining him as assistant coaches are all star players Adam Ghitelman, Marcus Holman and Will Manny.

The team is young, with 33 freshmen on the roster and 37 total underclassmen of a 44-man roster. Five players transferred from four year schools while 19 players played on last year's club team.

The Utes finished their club campaign on a high note, winning the 2018 Rocky Mountain Lacrosse Conference Championship and reaching the Men's Collegiate Lacrosse Association quarterfinals.

Utah hosts Vermont on Friday, Feb. 1, in its first game, in Rice-Eccles Stadium. The Utes have six home games, including Mercer (Feb. 9), Bellarmine (March 9), Mount St. Mary's (April 6), Cleveland State (April 20) and Detroit Mercy (April 27). Utah faces four teams that are ranked in the U.S. Lacrosse Magazine preseason poll: No. 2 Duke (March 12), No. 5 Virginia (March 31), No. 9 Denver (Feb. 23) and No. 16 Massachusetts (March 17).

Attack

Junior transfer Jimmy Perkins brings NCAA experience to the Utes after spending four seasons at Robert Morris. The second-team All-Northeast Conference player led the Colonials with 61 points and a school-record 30 assists and finished second on the team with 31 goals. Junior James Sexton was a two-time All-American at Onondaga Community College, leading the nation in assists in 2018 (49) while ranking third nationally in points (83) and finishing third on the team in goals (34).

Sophomore Stout brothers Josh and Jake were both two-time MCLA All-Americans for the club program. Josh, who will also be seen playing in the midfield, led Utah last season with 63 goals, 23 assists and 86 points. Jake scored 46 goals with 16 assists over 28 career club games.

Freshman Jake Cantlon from Canada has been among the top players in the British Columbia Junior Lacrosse League.

Freshman Quinault Mackey finished second on last year's club team with 39 points and was tied for second with 16 assists. Freshman Bo Powell had 17 points, 11 goals and six assists last year over nine games for the club team before suffering a season-ending knee injury. He has the potential to see time as he continues to work towards getting healthy.

Midfield/LSM

At long stick midfielder, freshman Chris Belcher earned All-America honors with the club program last season and finished second on the team with 53 ground balls. The Lehi, Utah, product was a two-time high school All-American. Freshman Rylan Lemons earned all-conference honors with the club team last year, recording 13 ground balls. Freshman Carter McDaniels was two-time All-Puget Sound at Tahoma High School (Wash.). Freshman Bo Caldwell earned high school All-America honors at Juan Diego High School and was the state's 2018 LSM MVP.

Junior Aaron Fjeldsted earned All-America honors with the club team last season. Over two years with the club squad, Fjeldsted scored 41 goals, had 34 assists and recorded 41 ground balls. Senior Cam Redmond is the only player who spent more than two seasons with the club team, playing in 50 games over four years. He had 64 career ground balls, 34 goals and 27 assists for the Utes. Freshman Reid Lanigan had 10 goals and eight assists with six ground balls last season while freshman Liam Cavanaugh-Fernandez scored 11 goals with seven assists and nine ground balls in 2018.

Freshmen looking to make an impact include Gabe Mein, a high school All-American and three-time all-state player at Columbine High School (Colo.). Freshman James Erickson earned all-state honors at Cherry Creek High School (Colo.).

Others who played on Utah's club team last season include freshman Steele Headden, who had 18 ground balls. He was two-time all-state at Utah's Olympus High School. Freshman Jonathan Rose had eight ground balls, one goal and seven assists for the club team last year. Freshman Jeremy Sartin had eight assists and two goals over 13 games played.

Freshman Griffin Bonjean was a two-time all-state player at Mountain Vista High School (Colo.).
Freshman Easton Cecil was an all-league player and played four varsity seasons at Valor Christian High School (Colo.). Freshman Matthew Graziano scored over 300 career points at Morris Catholic High School (N.J.). Freshman Jack Zarnik earned all-state honors at Cardinal Gibbons High School (N.C.).

A pair of newcomers were both first-team All-CIF (California Interscholastic Federation) Southern Section football players at their high schools and have also seen success in lacrosse. Freshman Reuben Santana is the all-time points leader at Santiago High School. Freshman Brandon Wilson, a three-sport athlete who also played basketball, was all-county and all-league at San Clemente High School.

Defense

Sophomore Seth Neeleman earned All-America honors with the club team last season and has 73 ground balls over the last two years. Senior Aidan Christian, a transfer from Bellarmine who was an all-conference player for the club team last year, had 23 ground balls last season.

Freshmen Nick Hapney and Samuel Cambere are expected to make a strong impact. Hapney played at the St. Paul's School for Boys (Md.) while Cambere earned all-state honors at Flower Mound High School (Texas) last season.

Junior Dan Tracy is a transfer from UMass where he played in eight games over two seasons. He can also play in the midfield. Freshman local product Ben Adams had nine ground balls for last year's club team. He was a state Defense MVP at Skyline High School. Freshman Kyle Kooda was an all-district player at Plano West High School (Texas). Freshman Dominic Mata was all-state at Regis Jesuit High School (Colo.). Freshman Jack Scherer was a three-time first-team all-conference player at Marin Catholic High School (Calif.).

Goalkeeper

Sophomore Liam Donnelly spent the past two seasons at Rutgers before transferring to Utah. He was an All-American in high school who played five varsity seasons. Senior Daniel Costa was a second-team All-American for Utah's club squad last year after transferring from St. John's, where he ranked second in the Big East and 25^th in the NCAA in saves per game (10.79) in 2017.

A trio of freshman will be looking to earn time. Zack Johns played in 10 games for last year's club team with 22 saves. Joe Persico was a high school All-American at Iona Prep High School (N.Y.). Bryce Cheek was the Greater Charlotte Lacrosse Goalkeeper of the Year as a senior at Weddington High School (N.C.).

FaceOff

Freshman Jacob Chang played in 14 club games last season and was 34-of-53 in faceoffs with 23 ground balls. Freshman Donny Stock was two-time all-state at St. Xavier HS (Ohio).