Late Rally Lifts Lacrosse over Air Force, 6-5

Sunday, February 24

Colorado Springs, CO

12:00 PM

University of Utah

2-3

Air Force

2-2

Utah

Air Force

Photo by: Tim Haslam

2/24/2019 8:41 PM | Lacrosse

Box Score

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – A pair of fourth-quarter goals from Josh Stout lifted the Utah lacrosse team to a 6-5 victory over Air Force on Sunday afternoon.

The Utes (2-3) trailed as much as 4-1 in the game before coming back to cut the lead to one at halftime, 4-3. Both teams were held scoreless in the third quarter before Cam Redmond scored early in the fourth quarter to tie the game. Although Air Force came right back with a goal, Stout scored with 7:05 remaining to tie the game and 5:57 left to lift Utah to the win.

"Not pretty at all, but that's inconsequential," head coach Brian Holman said. "I'd rather it be ugly and win than pretty and lose. I'm just so proud of the kids – their grit, their determination, their willingness to fight. We had a tough loss yesterday and I think that set us back a little bit, but for them to go out there today and play against a service academy and just play as hard as they played, just so proud of everybody."

Stout scored three on the day for his fourth hat trick of the season with Jimmy Perkins, Redmond and Jake Cantlon also adding goals. Jake Stout had two assists and Perkins also had an assist. Seth Neeleman led Utah with four caused turnovers and tied for the team lead with four ground balls along with Aidan Christian and Liam Donnelly. Donnelly made 14 saves on the day in goal.

Air Force held an advantage in shots, ground balls, face offs and turnovers.

Perkins scored Utah's first goal of the game less than a minute in, but the Utes were held scoreless for the remainder of the quarter and into the second quarter as Air Force scored four goals to take a 4-1 lead. The Ute drought ended with a man-up goal from Josh Stout with 7:03 left in the second, assisted from brother Jake. Cantlon scored his first goal of the game with 1:54 left in the second quarter, assisted by Perkins, to close the gap to 4-3 at halftime.

In the third quarter, the Utes successfully fended off 11 shots from Air Force and survived seven turnovers as both teams went scoreless. A three-shot flurry in the middle of the quarter for the Utes was also unsuccessful.

In the fourth quarter, Redmond broke the stalemate with a goal with 14:22 left in the fourth quarter to tie the game at 4-4. Air Force came back less than a minute later with a goal after a Utah turnover to pull back ahead. A penalty on Air Force led to a man-up goal from Stout with 7:05 remaining in the game. The Utes won the subsequent face off and Stout scored the go-ahead goal a little over a minute later. Utah fended off four Air Force shots in the final four minutes.

Utah travels to South Carolina to face Furman on Saturday, March 2, at 12:00 p.m. ET.