By
Jeff Lund
Arizona Daily Wildcat
The Laxcats were expecting an easy win this weekend. Too bad.
The Tucson Lacrosse Club gave the Laxcats a run for their money Saturday afternoon at Laxcat Coliseum, but Arizona eventually came from behind to defeat the scrappy club, 12-11.
With the game tied 10-10 late in the fourth quarter, Charlie Mink found the net to give the No. 8 Laxcats a one-goal advantage with 5:19 to play. Mink then scored again with 1:20 left on a pass from Kevin Eyre.
The TLC pulled to within one goal with just four seconds left in the contest.
"We didn't play well," UA head coach Mickey-Miles Felton said. "We prevailed at the end. It was another wake-up call."
This time around, the TLC was stacked with players that did not play in the 22-5 loss to the Laxcats earlier in the season.
"You never know about this team," Felton said of the TLC. "They brought in a lot of guys they didn't have in the first game."
Felton said the TLC picked up some new players from Phoenix for the game, as well as some red-shirting Laxcats and even former All-American assistant coach Adam Hopkins.
Felton said he was looking forward to this game as a preparatory game for two huge games this weekend in Colorado.
"I wanted a good tune-up before our trip to Colorado," Felton said. "We didn't get the tune-up that I would have liked, but we did rally. I don't think the Laxcats were mentally prepared."
Arizona cannot afford to have any mental lapses this weekend when they travel to Colorado for games against No. 1 Colorado State (Saturday) and no. 11 Colorado (Sunday).
The 10-2 Rams have a home field notorious for rowdy fans, and Felton said he is aware of the home field advantage after talking with numerous coaches.
"I've never been there," Felton said. "But they have a very, very excessively nasty crowd. I have been hearing a lot from other coaches."
One coach told Felton, "Even if you win, you don't leave with a good feeling." Another coach reported a drunken fan attacked a referee during a game.
"There are some rowdy crowds in our league," Felton said. "It's just a question of whether you buy into it. They get on you and see if they can get anything from you. The idea is to ignore it if possible. This game is too important. They are the number one team in the country."
