This article was published in The Daily Universe on the 23rd of February, 2011.
Three road wins in four days, including two over top-20 opponents in California, brought the lacrosse team back to Provo with a perfect 4-0 record.
On Friday, the Cougars handled No. 15 Loyola Marymount University 16-10. The next day BYU ran over the No. 19 Cal Bears, 15-6, then finished the weekend trip with a 15-1 win against Claremont on Monday.
According to captain Ted Ferrin, this is the first time the Cougars have come back undefeated from California since he’s been at BYU.
For Ferrin, the highlight of the weekend was the win against California on Saturday. The field was wet and sloppy and the rain kept coming but the Cougar defense led a staunch team effort to fuel the victory.
“Cal was the best game,” Ferrin said. “That was the game that defensively [the team] just played awesome.”
Coach Matt Schneck agreed.
“[The Bears] were definitely the toughest team of the three teams we played, and we executed extremely well,” Schneck said. “It was a rainy, muddy, sloppy field and we still did what we needed to do to execute.”
BYU has scored at least 15 points in every game this season, showcasing its offensive prowess. The offense for the Cougars has improved this season under the leadership of Ferrin, who scored 10 goals over the weekend and added 12 assists. Ferrin leads the MCLA in assists-per-game with four.
However, Ferrin insists the key to the offense isn’t him, it’s unselfish play from the whole team.
“Last year we had just as much talent as we have this year, but this year the one thing that really stands out is unselfishness,” Ferrin said. “When we pass it around like crazy it’s really hard for the defense to communicate enough to guard us. Everyone on the team decided that they didn’t care about their statistics. We had so many times this weekend where a player made the extra pass.”
Another top-10 match will take place this week as No. 4 BYU takes on No. 10 Simon Fraser Saturday at 5 p.m. on the intermural north field.
Photos courtesy of William Nixon
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