San José State Men's Lacrosse team overcame a slow start to its game against the University of California, Irvine ending with a 13-10 win.
On Sunday, SJSU (3-2) faced the Anteaters on the South Campus Recreation Field.
Losing the first face-off against the Anteaters set the tempo of the first half. A face-off violation from the Spartans starting early resulted in the Anteaters gaining ball possession and scoring the first goal.
Placed in the goal for SJSU was Gavin Gannod, who was named MCLA Division II Pearl Goalie of the previous week, according to an SJSU Club Sports webpage.
Gannod made multiple saves in the first quarter, stepping outside of his goal to chase down wide shots from the Anteaters trying to gain possession back to the Spartans.
From one of those saves, Gannod was able to clear the Spartans midfield making a successful transition down to attack.
Once SJSU’s offense settled, a pick was set up by the team clearing up a lane for Lukas Payne allowing him to take a shot on goal ending the dry spell.
Throughout the majority of the first half, the Spartans gained and lost possession through unsuccessful passes and ground balls.
The first quarter ended with a tied game of 3-3 and SJSU head coach Derek De Lemos said that the team took its time to find footing.
“It took us a while to wake up and that first quarter was rough,” Lemos said. “Second quarter, we started to wake up and get on our feet.”
The Spartans did manage to turn the game around in the second quarter, winning the first face-off of the quarter.
During the first quarter, multiple possessions from SJSU were lost because of ground balls.
In the second quarter, Spartans put the pressure on the Anteaters opening them up to get several opportunities for the goal.
Hunter Dietrich, the sophomore face-off, continued to gain multiple possession wins for SJSU.
When Irvine gained possession, an attempt to shoot on goal was made but was blocked by the Spartans' defense.
A timeout was called by the Anteaters after SJSU got a 5-4 lead in the second quarter.
Irvine gained possession after a penalty from the Spartans. However, the defense applied pressure to Irvine, switching the possession to SJSU. The ball ended on Dietrich's sticks and instead of passing and cutting among the offense, Dietrich wound up and shot on the goal
The Spartans' face-off specialist is often seen initiating several of the offensive plays or transitioning the ball after a switch of ball possession.
“Since the beginning of the season and even from the beginning of fall ball, we have been able to get along as a team and know more about who likes to do what on the field,” Dietrich said. “Helping us use that to our advantage, that definitely helped us win this game.”
For the last two quarters, SJSU truly dominated the game creating several turnovers in the games while creating multiple scoring opportunities for themselves.
Some of these opportunities came from the Spartans running a tight defense and not giving the Anteaters much room to work with; often running their shot clock and giving a possession turnover to the Spartans who would later capitalize on it.
The SJSU men’s lacrosse team will continue to face top teams, including the University of San Diego on March 30th at 1 p.m. on UCSD’s home turf.
“If we can even just hang with them, then we can hang with anybody in the country,” Lemos said.
