SALT LAKE CITY – Jimmy Perkins scored four goals to lead the Utah lacrosse team as the Utes dropped a tight game against 17
th-ranked Air Force, 9-8 on Saturday afternoon.
Utah held an early 5-1 lead after the first quarter before Air Force scored the next four goals to tie the game at 5-5 at halftime. Each team scored two goals in the third quarter and the Falcons carried the momentum from a goal late in the third quarter to take an 8-7 lead early in the fourth quarter, adding an insurance goal with 4:38 remaining.
Josh Stout's diving goal with 2:23 remaining brought Utah to within one. The Utes called a timeout with 1:42 remaining and both of Utah's final shots of the game were saved.
"We have practiced many times to be able to win a close game scenario, and that was a scenario that we had scripted," Utah head coach
Brian Holman said. "We laid out what we wanted to run offensively and reminded them that we do this every day in practice, but we have to do a better job. We got some looks but Air Force made some saves in the end and we couldn't cash it in."
We play hard, but we've got to raise our level of execution to win these games. Air Force is a top-20 program. We turned the ball over way too many times. We made a lot of uncharacteristic errors. Overall, our effort is there but our execution level has got to get better. We jumped out early but we haven't been able to sustain that level of play, which is my fault and is something that we have to clear up in practice. We get that we have been in games with teams that are ranked, but we believe that we are capable of beating those teams. We have to figure out how to take what we're learning from these games and get better at these things. The positive is that we grow through every game and at some point we will be able to break through this next level of play."
The Utes failed to take advantage of five Air Force penalties and turned the ball over 17 times. Air Force is the second-straight ranked team the Utes have faced, falling 16-11 to then-17
th-ranked Lehigh last weekend.
Perkins tied his season high with four goals and also had an assist for five points.
Mac Costin scored two goals while Stout also had two points with a goal and an assist.
Colin Burke added a goal and
Branden Wilson had an assist.
Liam Donnelly made 12 saves in goal.
Seth Neeleman had four ground balls. Sammy Cambere had three ground balls and a caused turnover.
Cole Brams won 11-of-20 faceoffs and had five ground balls.
The Utes continue at home next weekend, hosting Furman on Saturday, Feb. 22, at 12:00 p.m. MT, in Rice-Eccles Stadium.