Box Score GREAT FALLS, Mont. – Records fell in Argo lacrosse's 20-2 win over the University of Wyoming in the team's second straight home game and second straight win. The win is the biggest margin of victory in UGF program history and gives the Argos a winning record for the first time this season, or any season.
"It's awesome to get a win like that, but we got beat 24-3 just a couple of weeks ago," UGF Head Coach
Fred Boekel said. "It's fun to be on the other end of that, but we still have a lot of work to do for next weekend."
The game was all Argos from the opening faceoff. Thanks to a nearly flawless day at the faceoff X from freshman
Dante Duran, the advantage of possession was squarely in the hands of UGF's offense. That wasn't so new for the Argos, however. What was new, was that once the team's offense got the ball, it kept it.
In previous games, the Argos struggled with turnovers that negated the effectiveness of Duran, and fellow faceoff man Josh Gavin. This time, the team was not only able to maintain control of the ball, but it turned that control into goals.
"We've really been harping on them to be able to possess the ball for long periods of time and think we probably went five straight minutes with the ball in one possession, which is huge for us," Boekel said. "Even though it was against an overmatched opponent, sometimes I'm not sure we can possess the ball against ourselves, so that was good to see."
Long drawn out possessions were part of UGF's strategy to start, but that patience soon proved to be a little unnecessary. After winning the first quarter 3-0, the Argos cranked up the tempo in the next 15 minutes.
UGF scored 6 more goals in the second quarter and continued keep a clean sheet defensively, going into the half up 9-0.
With more of the reserves on the field, the shutout was ended in the third quarter. Wyoming scored twice in the period, but UGF also scored more goals in that span of time than in any other quarter.
As the final score would suggest, a number of Argos came away with career days. Sophomore
Chase Clark led UGF in goals and total points. His 5 goals set a new career high, while he also dished out 2 assists.
Freshman attack
Nico Petrucci, scored the first goal of his career in the game and finished as the team's third leading scorer with 3 goals. Fellow freshman
Matt Woods also set a career high with 2 goals after scoring for the first time in the team's 17-6 win over Johnson & Wales the previous day.
The wins over JWU and Wyoming give UGF the first back-to-back wins in program history and gives the team a 4-3 record on the year, also a program best. UGF can't get blinded by their own glory, however, with perhaps the biggest weekend of the season coming up.
On March 31 and April 1, the Argos will travel to Missoula, Montana for the annual Copper Cup Challenge. The weekend is a three-team rivalry tournament between the only three collegiate lacrosse programs in the state of Montana. Both the University of Montana and Montana State University are strong programs and UGF is 0-7 all-time against the two teams.
"Right now, I just want them focusing on next weekend. If we can pull an upset against either of those teams, then we'll talk about what we've accomplished and move on to the next goal which is being a playoff team," Boekel said.
