The St. Thomas lacrosse team defeated the Utah State University Aggies 21-15 to advance to the national quarterfinals on Tuesday in Irvine California.
Senior captain and midfielder John Michael Coon recorded a hat trick in the first half before adding two more goals in the second half to lead all scorers with five tallies.
“I was just letting the game come to me,” Coon said. “I was taking opportunities when they came to me and made the most of them. I think it helps playing a team we do not see much because it is harder for them to know how to defend us.”
Coon had plenty of help in the scoring department as the Tommies featured balanced scoring throughout the lineup. Attackmen Sean Hickey, Danny Burke, Charlie Venable and midfielder Matt Kleven also recorded hat tricks in the win. Coach Brian Gross stressed that scoring depth is a staple of the team.
“Something we’ve known all along is that on the offensive end we are far from one dimensional, two dimensional or even three dimensional,” Gross said. “Teams are going to have to gameplan around several different guys, and that is going to open up some opportunities for other guys.”
After a close first half in which the teams traded goals, the Tommies began to assert their dominance by scoring four consecutive goals to start the third quarter. Kleven scored two goals barely two minutes into the half, before goals from Coon and Burke opened up a 13-7 lead.
“One thing we’ve always focused on throughout the season is winning the first five minutes of the third quarter, and this game was a perfect example,” Gross said. “We felt if we could get three quick goals to start the third, we would be in a much better spot.”
The Tommies held a comfortable 15-9 lead after three quarters, but the offense did not let up. St. Thomas notched six more goals in the fourth quarter to coast to a victory. Despite the convincing win, Gross said his team needs to improve for the next round.
“In the first half, I thought we did not shoot the ball particularly well,” he said. “We allowed their goalie to make some easy saves. Certainly the ground balls … we did not pick up enough of them in the first half. We need to be better at coming out in the first and second quarter and not put ourselves in a situation where we have to play a tight back and forth game.”
Although St. Thomas had a strong offensive showing throughout the game, Coon said defensive adjustments also contributed to the strong second half performance.
“Once we got control of (Utah State’s Blade Garlow) and figured out that he was the initiator, we just kind of played better team defense all around,” Coon said. “Our goalie, Austin Dover, really picked it up second half and made some great saves too.”
With the win, the team will return to action Tuesday against Florida Gulf Coast University in a rematch of a game the Tommies won 10-7 on April 5. Gross said the familiarity helps with preparation for tomorrow’s game, but the team will prepare just as it always does.
“That game was a little over a month ago. For the caliber of team Florida Gulf Coast is, that is certainly enough time for them to make adjustments,” he said. “So we are going to prepare from what we know based on the game earlier this season and from what we saw watching their game this afternoon … we are definitely not going to look past them, and we will prepare as we normally do.”
Burke added that the addition of several players who missed the first game between the two teams should give St. Thomas a boost in tomorrow’s rematch.
“Last time we played (FGCU) we were missing some key guys and won a close game, so it will be nice to have them playing tomorrow,” Burke said.
Willie Faust can be reached at faus5612@stthomas.edu.