The No. 22 University of Utah men’s lacrosse team fell to No. 5 Simon Fraser by the score of 15-6 on Saturday at the Spence Eccles Field House in Salt Lake City.

Simon Fraser scored first on a goal by junior midfielder Russell Thomas after seven minutes had passed in the first quarter and never looked back as they maintained the lead for the entire game.

Junior attackmen Ben Towner scored the second goal for Simon Fraser halfway through the first quarter.

The closest the Utes came was when junior midfielder Mike Calvert scored the first goal with four minutes left in the first quarter making the score 2-1 in favor of Simon Fraser.

Utah trailed 3-1 at the end of the first quarter.

Towner scored again for Simon Fraser fifty-two seconds into the second quarter when Utah goalie Andrew Martenilli failed to control a rebound after a save. Towner scooped up the ball in front of the crease and shot it in to make the score 4-1.

Simon Fraser scored two more goals before Utah was able to score again halfway through the second quarter. Simon Fraser was penalized for an illegal stick and Utah was able to capitolize on a man-up play on a goal by junior attackmen Pat Guinn to make the score 6-2.

Simon Fraser scored eight goals in the second half compared to four goals for Utah.

“I thought Utah battled us hard, it was a game filled with a lot of penalties so I think it was diffucult for either team to really establish any momentum and overall I think the game lacked a lot of flow,” said Simon Fraser head coach Jeff Cathrea, “but we executed when we needed to and still managed to come out on top.”

“We didn’t come out as sharp as we’d like,” said Utah head coach Craig Morris. “That is a good lacrosse team over there. I think we had the right game plan, but executing that is a whole different story against a real good lacrosse team.”

Utah will host Wyoming on March 6 and Simon Fraser will host Washington on February 28.

More photos can be seen at Haslam Photography.