Overcoming adversity early.
The Grand Canyon University Men's Lacrosse Team traveled to Southern California over the weekend, falling to the University of Southern California Saturday, 11-8, in a rematch of last year's Southwestern Lacrosse Conference Championship Game, before beating UCLA Sunday, 14-2.
Saturday: USC 11, GCU 8
After the GCU team bus broke down Friday afternoon en route to California, it seemed as if the regular season had thrown its first real punch at the Lopes: a six-hour delay in the middle of the desert.
Fast forward about 24 hours and the punch became a quick 1-2 combo - courtesy of a two-hour lightning delay right before game time. In addition, this was the first game of the season for the Lopes following a cancellation of their scheduled scrimmage against Northern Arizona University on Feb. 18.
"We already had our backs up against the wall by playing our first game of the season against an in-conference opponent that had already played six games," said GCU Head Coach Jeff Guy. "It was a disappointing performance."
The Trojans opened the game much like a team who already had six games under its belt, hanging three unanswered goals on GCU by the end of the first quarter. USC continued the run in the second quarter before Lopes' attackman Nick Whittall started a run of his own, trading goals with the Trojans' offense. Whittall ended the quarter with three goals and Lopes' Kyle Capshaw added one of his own, but the Lopes could only cut the deficit to 7-4 at halftime. Whittall's five-goal day was spoiled as the Trojans never allowed GCU to get closer than three the rest of the way.
Sunday: GCU 14, UCLA 2
Looking to avenge an overtime loss to UCLA last season, GCU started Sunday's game sharp, getting quick goals from Cayden Flores and Whittall while stifling UCLA defensively en route to a 5-2 halftime lead.
The Bruins didn't score the rest of the way. Meanwhile, the Lopes went on a nine-goal run, getting contributions from a plethora of players, including two each from Cam Gilmore and Ty Parietti, and a goal each from Flores, Capshaw, Nico Hofheins, Marshall Moore, and - you guessed it - Whittall. GCU Goalie Jake Hives saved an impressive 82% of UCLA shot attempts in the game.
"We rebounded well against a much-improved UCLA team that has played two top-10 opponents within two goals this season," said Guy. "A lot of the first-game errors that we committed against USC were substantially cleaned up in this game."
The Lopes now take to the GCU Soccer Stadium field on Friday against BYU to open a stretch of eight straight home games. The game starts at 7:00 PM and will be streamed live on the Varsity Sports Show Youtube channel.
