The No. 19 Utah (7-7) lacrosse team extended its winning streak to four games after beating UVSC (6-4) on Friday but saw it come to an abrupt halt at the hands of No. 20 Lindenwood (10-5) on Sunday.

Utah was without starting attackman Matt Qualey and starting defenseman Clint English for the UVSC game due to injury. The injuries didn’t affect the Utes too much, though, as the offense managed to score 15 goals and the defense held UVSC to only four scores.

The Utes came out slow but held most of the possession in the first quarter. Seven minutes into the game, Utah’s Ryan Watts scored Utah’s first goal. Two minutes later, Watts scored again, and Utah continued to hold the ball and not allow UVSC to have any good possessions.

After two more Ute goals, the team started off the second quarter with long possessions and didn’t manage to score until Mike Calvert found the back of the net five minutes in. Seven minutes later, Calvert capitalized on a failed clear by UVSC.

With less than two minutes left in the second quarter, UVSC midfielder Ryan Cantwell scored the Wolverines’ first goal to cut the Utah lead to 6-1. Utah answered right back with another goal by Pat McIntyre, giving Utah a 7-1 lead going into halftime.

Utah was able to run away with the game early in the third quarter, which allowed the second string to play it out to a 15-4 final.

“The game played out exactly how we wanted it to,” Utah head coach Rich Levi said.

Watts scored four goals to lead the team. Calvert and McIntyre had three goals and one assist each. Utah spread out the scoring with Pat Guinn, Adam Grow, Jon Owens, Jeff Ball and Kyle Brennan notching one goal each.

Utah was hoping its momentum would carry it forward against No. 20 Lindenwood, but it wasn’t meant to be.

The Utes allowed Lindenwood to score three goals in the first seven minutes of the game. With six minutes remaining in the opening quarter, Watts notched a goal to cut the lead to 3-1. Lindenwood would respond with a goal of its own a minute later.

After missing two games due to an injured thumb, Qualey came into the game and made an instant impact, scoring two goals within 30 seconds of each other. Qualey’s injection immediately boosted Utah’s confidence, and the Utes added one more goal 12 seconds later to tie the score at four.

Qualey scored three minutes into the second quarter, giving Utah its first lead of the game, 5-4. Utah midfielder Steve Glauser scored to give Utah a 6-4 lead with nine minutes remaining in the half.

Lindenwood scored three consecutive goals to regain the lead, but two penalties allowed Utah to score two man-up goals to end the half with an 8-7 lead.

Defense dominated the third quarter as only three goals were scored.

The fourth quarter started at a 9-9 tie, but Lindenwood scored 30 seconds into the quarter on a man-up goal to take the lead for good and run away with a 13-11 win.

“We are disappointed,” Levi said.

Utah resumes action Thursday against BYU at Juan Diego High School in Draper, Utah. Face-off is at 7 p.m.

Originally printed in The Daily Utah Chronicle on April 14, 2008