Utah Lacrosse Begins First D-I Season With Loss To Vermont

Feb 1, 2019, 6:42 PM | Updated: Feb 2, 2019, 2:05 pm

KSL Sports

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – It was a historic day for the Utah lacrosse program as the Utes played their first Division I game.

Going up against an established program in Vermont, the Utes were blown out 21-6, but as the saying goes, you got to start somewhere.

Let’s go! #goutes pic.twitter.com/WGPZiZ34or

— UtahLacrosse (@UtahLacrosse) February 1, 2019

Historic Day For LAX In Utah

In front of a crowd of 3,215 at Rice-Eccles Stadium, Vermont scored just 19 seconds into the game, perhaps an indication of the current talent disparity that the Utes will have to build to become competitive at the Division I level. After all, of the 43 members of Utah’s squad, 36 are freshman and 19 and former members of the club-level program.

Following another score by the Catamounts, Jimmy Perkins made Utah history with the first goal in program history at the 10:36 mark of the first quarter to cut Vermont’s lead to 2-1.

FIRST GOAL IN UTAH HISTORY! Scored by Jimmy Perkins with an assist from Sam Cambere. Utes trail 2-1. #goutes pic.twitter.com/phPChgufpl

— UtahLacrosse (@UtahLacrosse) February 1, 2019

By halftime, the Utes already had their first hat-trick scorer in former Lone Peak star Josh Stout.

Lone Peak star Josh Stout is off to a great start for @UtahLacrosse! Hat trick! #goutes pic.twitter.com/suSLGge3CE

— Utah Athletics (@utahathletics) February 2, 2019

Despite the scoring of Perkins, Stout, Stout’s brother, Jake and Aaron Fjeldsted, the Utes fell by 15 to Vermont.

The Catamounts’ Ben French was stellar, racking up four goals and two assists in the season-opening win.

Even though there was a clear difference between the Catamounts, who were ranked just outside the NCAA’s top 20 and the Utes, the newest and Western-most program in a sport heavily dominated by East Coast schools, it was still a day to remember.