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Vandal Shots Week 2: Gem State Tourney

Editor’s note: Krieg Shaw will be taking us behind the scenes of University of Idaho men’s lacrosse throughout the 2009-2010 season. The Idaho Vandals are an MCLA D1 team, competing in the Pacific Northwest Conference. Shaw, a senior midfielder, will be contributing photos on a weekly basis. If you missed Week 1, you can find it here. Now on to Week 2…
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This week was a doozy in Moscow. Started the week out with a nice rain storm to bring in some fresh air to the ‘Scow and has been in the high 50’s and 60’s since then, quite the fall weather.

As for Idaho Lacrosse, I’d say it was a pretty successful weekend. We traveled down Friday afternoon in our University Suburban’s and prepped for the Gem State Tournament.

MCLA_Idaho_Week2-1Wednesday night practice, not the best of pictures but had an eerie fog creeping all over the field during practice.

Saturday’s first game was against our rivals Boise State, always an extra special game for me after transferring from there my sophomore year. The team was on target and our desire for the W was there. After being down 5-4 at halftime, we came out hot and went on a 6 goal run for a 10-5 final.

MCLA_Idaho_Week2-2Eric Fletcher and John Kopke led the team in scoring with a hat trick a piece.

Our second game was no more than 20 minutes after the end of BSU, we went in pretty hot but just couldn’t find the legs to finish after putting forth so much effort in the rivalry game and slipped up in the second half, losing 9-7 to Montana State.

MCLA_Idaho_Week2-3

As always though, our self-proclaimed “Tenacious D” played a great game, our main weakness coming from the lack of legs at the midfield.

Saturday night meant one thing, Vandal football on ESPNU. The team was able to continue making their statement for some respect in the WAC with a convincing 35-21 victory over Hawaii with Woolridge running for 4 td’s, bringing his total up to 12 on the season.

MCLA_Idaho_Week2-4After some football and some great steak, potatoes and salad from the local parents, we slept on full stomachs as pictures of trophies danced through our heads.

Sunday greeted us with a 9:30 am game vs Utah State. Utah State came out hungry and kept us on our toes. But thanks to some outstanding play by our defense and a great iso in OT, we were able to come out with a 7-6 victory.

MCLA_Idaho_Week2-5John Kopke had it his mindset on a W for the Vandies and wouldn’t stop until his mission was complete.

Championship game time, even with the loss to Montana State we were able to make the ‘Ship based off our +4 goal differential from the 3 games. To start, UVU (Utah Valley University) had an army of a team, I’m pretty sure their numbers were in the 30’s/40’s. They could move the ball, they were well coached and they flat-out outplayed us. They were one of those teams that have a system, stick to it and flourish game in and game out, needless to say at this point, they won 11-4. We had the saves, thanks to a great game by Blake Uphus, we had the looks, but just couldn’t finish, but in the end, they definitely were the better team.

MCLA_Idaho_Week2-6

Things were moving for us at the midfield-x thanks to some great performance by Alex Finlayson.

With the tournament over we fueled up and hit the road for the 6 hour trek back to Moscow. Fall ball is officially over for us, but we are working on getting an indoor league set-up for the next two months until spring comes.

MCLA_Idaho_Week2-7Even with a disappointing 2nd place finish, we still jumped at any opportunity for a photo-op and a good time. Thank you McCall.

That is all for now. I know I promised a cow with a window in its stomach and don’t you worry, I made some arrangements for an interview and a little photo session for this week with these majestic creatures. And for the likes of an old Coach, I’ll stop by the Bear’s den and show you what Pullman has to offer for caged animals.