SALT LAKE CITY – The No. 20-ranked University of Utah lacrosse program secured the first shutout in program history with a dominant 18-0 win over Queens University on Saturday at Ute Field.
Saturday's commanding victory marked the first shutout by a Division I team this season and the first by any Utah squad. The previous program record for fewest goals allowed in a game was three, set last season against Queens. Utah's 18-goal margin of victory marked the second largest in program history, trailing only the Utes' 32-4 win over Iona earlier this season.
The Utes (9-3, 4-0 ASUN) commanded possession and controlled the pace of play, holding a 52-16 shot advantage, a 34-6 edge in shots on goal, and a 15-7 lead in faceoff wins. Utah's defense made the transition game incredibly difficult for Queens (4-8, 0-4 ASUN), stopping the Royals on 10 of their 21 clearance attempts and causing 17 turnovers.
Ten Utes entered the scoring column on Saturday, while 12 tallied at least a point.
GAME LEADERS
Colin Lenskold spent the first 45 minutes of play in the cage, stopping both shots that were fired on goal, while
Ethan Jaffe made four stops – a career best – in the fourth quarter to secure the shutout. Jaffe and Lenskold also combined three ground balls and a caused turnover en route to the win.
Four Utes –
Luca Pivetta,
Joel Mullen,
Nikko DiPonio and
Blake Franckowiak – caused multiple turnovers, Pivetta leading the way with three, while DiPonio paced the defense with five ground balls. Utah tallied 45 ground balls as a team, the seventh time this season the Utes have nabbed 40 or more.
Luke McNamara paced the scoring attack with six goals, moving his season total to 52. The sophomore entered the weekend as the national leader in goals and broke the Utah single-season record with his total on Saturday, becoming the first Utah Ute to score 50-plus in a season. Six goals also rank as the fifth-best single-game scoring record in program history
Zachary White led the Utes with seven points, scoring once and adding a career-best seven assists. Seven helpers sit tied for the third most in a single game in program history. The senior has tallied at least one assist in every game this season, notching multiple in nine of 12 games and each of the last five.
Ryan Stines made it 47 games in a row with a point and 19 in a row with a goal, scoring twice and adding a pair of helpers.
Brady Grandstaff and
Nathan Chalmers each scored twice to round out the Utes with multiple points.
Bryce Madden handled the majority of the faceoff chances, winning eight of his 10 attempts.
Tyler Kloeckl went three-for-three in his tries and
Anthony Dara won three of five.
FIRST QUARTER BREAKDOWN
Utah got out to a 5-0 lead after the first 15 minutes, holding the Royals to just four shots in the opening frame.
Karson Sparks put Utah on the board after just 75 seconds, taking a feed from White behind net and firing a lefty shot past the goalie.
McNamara scored the next three goals for Utah, needing just seven minutes to cap his hat trick. White assisted on two of the goals and Stines added an assist on the other.
White then entered the scoring column himself with just over two minutes to play after he caused a turnover in transition to help Utah keep the ball on its side of the field. White used a beautiful stutter step to freeze his defender and create space in front of goal, giving Utah the 5-0 lead.
SECOND QUARTER BREAKDOWN
McNamara scored his fourth of the day to put Utah on the board in the second, and after Madden won the ensuing faceoff, Chalmers entered the scoring column to put Utah ahead by seven with 9:44 to play.
Utah did not score for the next seven minutes, but the defense held Queens to just one off-target shot during that span. Stines ended the drought with an unassisted score with 2:32 on the clock, and White then set up McNamara for a quick strike 11 seconds later after a faceoff win by Kloeckl.
Grandstaff net his first of the day with 1:40 left in the frame to put Utah up by double-digits, 10-0. Lenskold made his second save of the game with less than a minute left to keep the 10-goal advantage going into halftime.
THIRD QUARTER BREAKDOWN
Utah's defense did not allow Queens to put a shot on goal during the third quarter, limiting the Royals to just two off-target attempts. McNamara once again started the scoring for Utah in the second half, burying his fifth of the afternoon off another feed from White.
Grandstaff scored his second of the day with 6:05 on the clock to put Utah up by a dozen, and with left than a minute to play, Stines worked his magic to net his second and give Utah a 13-0 lead heading into the fourth quarter.
FOURTH QUARTER BREAKDOWN
Jaffe subbed in in goal to start the final quarter and made four stops to secure the shutout. After Queens was flagged for offsides, Chalmers netted a man-up score off a find from White to push the lead to 14.
With seven minutes left in the quarter, Utah still continued to fight for possession. Franckowiak caused a turnover on the ride after he had a shot turned away and picked up the ground ball behind goal, finding
Joel Mullen in front of net. The SSDM had one shot saved, but collected the ground ball in front of the crease and buried his second of the year.
Less than a minute later and with another man-up chance,
Kyle Harrison found nylon off a feed from
Bryce Roach, scoring his second goal of the year and his second in as many games.
After
Quinn Power won the ensuing faceoff,
Sean Siracusa net his third goal of the season off the first-career point and assist from Franckowiak, putting Utah up 17-0.
Price Jeffris closed out the Utah scoring, netting his first-career goal with 3:18 on the clock to seal the second-largest margin of victory in program history.
UP NEXT
Utah will wrap up the regular season at noon on Saturday, April 25, when the Utes take on Air Force at Ute Field. The game will be preceded with a Senior Day ceremony to recognize this year's graduating class and their contributions to the Utah Lacrosse program. Admission is free for all fans.
STAY CONNECTED
Fans can follow along on social media (X:
@UTAHLacrosse | Instagram:
@utahlacrosse), and the official mobile app of Utah Athletics, Utah360 -- download
here.