The UCLA men’s lacrosse team overcame injuries Monday to
send UC Davis to its first defeat, downing the Aggies 8-6 at
home.
Despite recent injuries to captains Colin Scadden (broken arm)
and Tillman Endsley (ankle), the Bruins, through solid goalkeeping
and timely scoring, were able to snap their two-game losing streak,
along with the Aggies’ three-game winning streak.
“I thought we came out a lot harder than we had the past
couple of games,” said Spencer Fivelson, goalie and Daily
Bruin assistant online director, who had 19 saves on the day.
“We were pretty down after the last game (a loss to Arizona
State Feb. 14), but we played hard from the beginning
today.”
Andrew So helped put the game away for good, scoring a goal
early in fourth quarter to make the score 7-4.
Though the Aggies would threaten again with goals by attackers
Tom Shapland and Mike Esser, Fivelson and the defense combined to
shut down their final goal attempts to hold on to the victory.
The Bruin defense, led by William Madrid in his first start,
shut down the Aggie offense for much of the game, forcing them to
take many outside shots. Defenseman Derek Scadden had some key
plays in the early going to allow the Bruins to end the first half
with a 3-2 lead.
Endsley, already suffering from an injury, went down late in the
second quarter with an ankle injury after scoring two goals for the
Bruins.
“This is probably the most injuries we’ve ever
had,” coach Lane Jaffe said.
But the Bruins persevered, even though the game seemed it would
be all Aggies from the outset. The first minutes of the game were
spent entirely in Bruin territory. But thanks to good interior
defense, the Aggies were held scoreless, and the Bruins soon jumped
out to a 2-0 lead.
Jaffe was able to reflect positively on the victory, but the
Bruin coach realizes there are still things the team needs to
improve.
“If there’s one thing we need to work on, it’s
controlling the ball. We need to work on dominating the time of
possession,” Jaffe said. “But I thought we showed a lot
of heart today. We made up for the injuries with all around
hustle.”