GREAT FALLS, Mont. – A regular  season ending  win for University of Providence lacrosse reinforces an already earned 2-seed in the PNCLL Division II playoffs and sent the team's senior class out with a 14-2 win. The win over Central Washington University is UP's fourth victory in five games and gives the Argos a final regular season record of 5-8 (4-1).
 
UP already had its second-place finish in the PNCLL North sewn up before the game started, with CWU's loss to  University  of Montana the day before ended the chance for some wacky playoff tiebreakers. That being said, the game was still important to the team, both to build momentum heading into the postseason and to get a win on Senior Day.
 
Despite, or perhaps because of, the emotions of Senior Day, it took UP a long time to score in the first quarter. The Argos dominated play off the opening faceoff, but of the 7 shots the team took in the first six minutes, 3 hit the post, 2 never made it to the net, and none of them scored.
 
Senior attack Josh Smith finally broke the seal with 1:25 left in the period on an assist from freshman Wyatt Jones. A coast-to-coast clear for sophomore Dante Duran ended in another goal with 12 seconds left to truly get the UP offense going.
 
UP outshot the Wildcats 17-6 in the second quarter and added 4 more goals to the lead. Jones and Smith were a deadly one-two punch in the period, each scoring twice. Of UP's 6  first half  goal, 5 came with assists, including 2 from Jones, who finished the first 30 minutes of play with 2 goals and 2 assists.
 
After only three penalties were calling in the first half, none of which were on the Argos, yellow flags became a common sight in the third quarter. UP was called for 6 infractions in 15 minutes, playing a total of 5 minutes of man-down lacrosse.
 
All of those penalties severely cramped the Argo attack's style, but the team's defense rose to the occasion. Despite playing 5 vs 6 lacrosse for a third of the period, the Argos didn't allow a goal in the period and in 9 total man-down minutes in the game, never allowed CWU to score a man-up goal.
 
Junior goalkeeper Jeremy Smith made 6 of his 14 total saves in the third quarter, and it was Josh Smith who scored the only goal of the period.
 
The fourth quarter started poorly for the Argos, with CWU score 2 of the next 3 goals, but the rest of the game was all UP. Starting with a man-up goal from Chase Clark with 5:06 left in the game, UP scored 6 goals in less than three minutes. Sophomore Michael Davis scored 2 of those goals, for his fourth and fifth of the season.
 
Following a recent pattern of  balanced  offense, six different Argos scored in the game, with five score 2 or more. Smith led UP with 5 goals and 1 assist, followed in terms of total points by Jones with had 2 goals and 3 assists. Duran, Clark, and Davis all had 2 goals each.
 
Freshman defender Tommy West led the Argo defense with 7 of the team's 20 total caused turnovers and added a team-leading 7 ground balls.
 
UP will move on to the PNCLL playoffs for the second straight year. As the 2-seed out of the North division, the Argos will play the 3-seed out of the South, University of Portland (6-6, 3-2) on Friday, April 27 at 5:00 p.m. MST in Lake Oswego, Oregon.
 
In terms of overall record, and without context, the 2018 season looks like a step back for UP going from 9-3 in 2017, 5-8 in 2018. That doesn't tell the whole story though. The Argos played three ranked teams in the 2017 regular season, while they have played 7 in 2018, and the team's current 4-1 conference record is one game better than in 2017.