Lehi Sports
Falcon boys lacrosse earns title try with solid play
Beky Beaton / Lehi Free Press
The No. 2 Skyridge boys lacrosse team worked its way through the 6A state tournament, blowing out an initial lower-seeded opponent but then prevailing in two competitive games to punch a ticket to the championship contest.
May 14: Skyridge 17, No. 15 Copper Hills 2
The Falcons scored consistently through all four quarters on the way to a predictably lopsided victory to open the 6A playoffs. Senior attacker Carson Butterfield and freshman attacker Kaiden Hobbs each scored four times and made three assists to lead the offensive effort.
Freshman attacker Tamanuitoi Johnson added two goals and two gives while senior attacker Dylan Forsgren and senior midfielder Cabell Buechner had one of each. Buechner also picked up five ground balls.
Senior Grady Gunter had seven saves during his 40 minutes in the net and sophomore Luke Adams finished the shift. Senior defender Max Poecker had a dominant outing, collecting seven ground balls and six takeaways.
Freshman defensive midfielder Boston Strickland gathered seven ground balls and won 12-of-17 (71%) faceoffs. Sophomore defender Renner Farrer added six takeaways to a pair of ground balls.
Senior defender Covelli Moore posted four ground balls and three takeaways. Junior defensive midfielder Eric Parry snagged four ground balls and two takeaways.
May 16: Skyridge 11, No. 10 Herriman 8
Goalkeeping was critical in a close match like this. Gunter held down the fort for 30 minutes and Adams handled the other 18, making seven saves of the nine shots taken against him.
On the offensive side, Forsgren scored four times while Johnson had two goals and one assist plus senior midfielder Dominic Weaver got one goal and two assists in the effort. Senior midfielder Dane Lambert scored twice. Butterfield and Hobbs had one goal and one assist apiece.
Buechner made three gives along with four ground balls and two takeaways. Parry was tops in ground balls with five and also had three takeaways while Farrer snagged the most takeaways with four and also scooped up three ground balls. Strickland won 11 faceoffs and four ground balls.
May 20: Skyridge 14, No. 3 Farmington 10
The Falcons were ahead for most of the semifinal match at Westminster against the Phoenix, but the lead was never comfortable enough to allow for less than full effort. Skyridge led 5-2 after the first quarter but the gap narrowed to 7-6 at the break and the teams competed hard to the end.
Adams went the distance in goal and made a heroic effort between the pipes with 13 saves to help his team to secure the victory. Buechner provided pressure both ways with two goals, three assists, seven ground balls and two takeaways.
Weaver scored four times with one give, while Forsgren hit the net three times with one assist and Hobbs scored once with three gives. Lambert added two goals and one assist, Butterfield had one of each and Johnson also found the target once.
Strickland garnered eight ground balls to go with 15-of-24 (63%) faceoffs won. Parry got six ground balls and two takeaways.
