This article was published in The Daily Universe on February 25th, 2011.
By: Charles Krebs
No. 4 BYU lacrosse will test its undefeated record against its toughest competition yet in Provo on Saturday against the No. 10 Simon Fraser Clansmen.
Photo by Carolyn Carter. Andrew Harding (midfield) dodges a Boise State player at BYU's men's lacrosse game Saturday afternoon. BYU defeated Boise State 17-3.
Simon Fraser, a school from British Columbia, Canada, is an elite contender, coming off a final four appearance in the Men’s Collegiate Lacrosse Association championship tournament last season. BYU has won three of the last four meetings against the Clansmen. Last year the Cougars beat Simon Fraser in British Columbia 15-9.
The two teams will face off following a successful BYU road sweep of three games last weekend in California. Senior captain Brian Mathay said the team hopes to carry the weekend confidence into the game Saturday.
“The offense really clicked over the weekend and we’ll take what we can from last weekend and apply it to this game,” Mathay said. ”We’ll have the confidence and ability to get through the challenges that we’re going to face [on Saturday] because it’s going to be a challenging game.”
The Cougars will face a unique style of lacrosse from the Canadian team.
“One of the things that will make it interesting is that they play a different type of lacrosse than us,” said Pat Matheson, a sophomore from Holladay. “Lots of them play hockey in the winter and lacrosse in the spring. They’re used to playing in closer quarters, so their sticks are fast.”
The game will be at home for BYU, although coach Matt Schneck doesn’t see that as a huge advantage.
“It’s fun for us to be at home and to have our home crowd there,” Schneck said. “A lot of the kids get to play in front of their friends and family. But besides that I don’t think there is going to be much of an advantage. They practice early morning just like we do, they practice on turf just like we do. They practice in snow and based on the forecast they’re going to be coming into snow as well. This is a team that’s used to it.”
The Cougars are on limited practice after taking Wednesday to get caught up in classes, and have been practicing outside to get used to the potential adverse weather this weekend.
“I suspect that it’s going to be a very evenly matched game and it’s going to be a real fight,” Schneck said. “They have a great tradition with their team and we expect nothing but a very good game against them knowing that they’re going to bring their very best.”
The game will begin at 5 p.m. on the North University intramural fields this Saturday.
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