Utah Lacrosse Season Outlook

1/29/2020 8:30 AM | Lacrosse

Lacrosse Faces Bellarmine in Season Opener

After earning five wins in its inaugural season, head coach Brian Holman and the Utah lacrosse team look to continue growing in year two.

"We're in our second year but we're in our fourth year as a program and we have seen continued development of culture and leadership," Holman said. "There seems to be much more intent, and I think the team understands what it takes every day to be a Utah lacrosse player. Are we more talented? I would hope so, but you don't know until you go out there and play somebody. Most important is the willingness of the guys to exhibit the lifestyle of a Utah lacrosse player. For us as a staff, that's the most important aspect of this whole thing and all else will grow from there. You can be as talented as you want, but if you don't have that, you're still going to be fighting an uphill battle.

"Our goal is to get better every single week," Holman continued. "To avoid the roller coaster feeling of taking two steps forward and one step back. If we can do that then the games will figure themselves out. I think last year we did a really good job of that but last year there was a period where we definitely regressed.

Utah returns 21 players from last year's team, several who played a key role in the Utes first NCAA season. The team captains for the season are junior goalie Liam Donnelly, senior midfield Aaron Fjeldsted, junior defense Seth Neeleman, senior attack Jimmy Perkins and junior attack Josh Stout.

Attack

Utah returns the majority of its offense. Stout led Utah last year with 43 goals and finished second on the team with 48 points, recording five assists. His 2.87 goals per game ranked 22^nd in the NCAA. Senior James Sexton scored a team-high 49 points and 25 assists, finishing second on the team with 24 goals. His 13 points vs. Detroit Mercy ranks tied for seventh all-time for most points in a game in the NCAA record book and was the most points in a game by a player in the NCAA in 2019.
Perkins tied for second on the team with 24 goals and ranked third on the team with 31 points despite struggling with injuries.

Sophomore Branden Wilson finished third on the team with nine assists last year and also had seven goals for 16 points.

The Utes pick up a strong graduate transfer in Colin Burke, who scored 144 points (89 goals, 55 assists) over three seasons at Fairfield (2016-18). He was an honorable mention All-American as a freshman, 2016 CAA Co-Player of the Year and two-time All-CAA.

Several freshmen are looking to earn playing time. Tyler Bradbury was a two-time U.S. Lacrosse All-American at Oak Park High School in California. MJ McMahon tallied the fifth-most goals all-time in Florida high school history at Cardinal Mooney Catholic High School.

Midfield

Fjeldsted ranked fourth on the team last year with 24 points, ranking second on the team with 13 assists and fourth with 11 goals.

Several sophomores gained valuable experience last season as freshmen. Jonathan Rose had four ground balls and two caused turnovers last year. Ruben Santana had eight ground balls and four caused turnovers. Jack Zarnik scored six points last year with five assists. Easton Cecil and Steele Headden both had a role on the field last season.

Sophomore Jack Barron transfers to Utah from Furman where he scored six points (three goals, three assists) over 10 games last season.

At long stick midfielder, sophomore Rylan Lemons played in eight games last season with three ground balls. Sophomore Carter McDaniels played in 12 games with four ground balls and five caused turnovers.

Freshmen include two-time U.S. Lacrosse All-Americans Ryan Rogers (Oak Ridge High School, Ca.) and Stew Vassau (Mercer Island HS, Wash.) while Mac Costin (Haverford School, Pa.), Jake Kiefer (Bishop Moore High School, Fla.) and Josh Rose (Greater Atlanta Christian School, Ga.) also earned U.S. Lacrosse All-America honors in high school. Koa Todd out of San Clemente, Calif., played in the Adrenaline All-America game. Carson Moyer was highly drafted in the Ontario box junior league and won a national field championship. Kyle Beasley who earned all-state honors at Loveland High School in Ohio.

Defense

Sophomore Sammy Cambere led Utah with 20 caused turnovers and finished second on the team with 52 ground balls. He was named to the College Crosse All-Freshman Team. Neeleman led Utah with 54 ground balls and finished second on the team with 16 caused turnovers. Sophomore Nick Hapney was third on the team last year with 11 caused turnovers and had 16 ground balls.

Senior Dan Tracy had five ground balls and two caused turnovers. Sophomore Dominic Mata played in nine games last season.

Freshman Hunter Easterly was a U.S. Lacrosse All-American at Juan Diego High School in Utah and the state's defensive MVP. Jarrod King attended school at Loyola Blakefield from the lacrosse hotbed of Maryland.

Goalkeeper

Donnelly started 14 games in goal last year. His 11.86 saves per game ranked 24^th in the NCAA (166 total saves) and he had a 13.41 goals allowed average.

Sophomore Zack Johns played in one game last year and made six saves. Freshman Bryce Cheek also returns after redshirting last year.

Newcomers include Zion DeChesere who attended Coronado High School in Nevada. Connor Hollison went to school in Park City before spending his final two years of high school at the IMG Academy.

Face Off

Sophomore Donny Stock went 51-of-144 in faceoffs last year (.354 percentage) with 18 ground balls.

A pair of newcomers will bolster the ranks of the faceoff crew. Freshman Cole Brams was a U.S. Lacrosse All-American at Portsmouth High School (N.H.) and won 95-percent of his faceoffs as a senior. Kellen Hoke of Skyline High School (Wash.) also earned U.S. Lacrosse All-America honors.

Also available for faceoffs are Neeleman, who went 55-of-175 last year (.314) as well as Cambere (5-of-21, .238).