ERIC M. JUKELEVICS/Arizona Daily Wildcat A Laxcat player gets his stick tangled up with a UCSD defender last weekend at Arizona Stadium. UA won its first two games under new head coach Adam Hopkins.

The Laxcats looked like a team that was playing its first games of the season this weekend.

The team struggled at times and made several mental mistakes, but did show glimpses of what kind of a team it could be by beating both the UCSD and the USD over the weekend.

"It's hard to say we played poorly, because we got two wins," head coach Adam Hopkins said. "But we have a long way to go until the team gets to where we want to be."

Saturday, the Laxcats took the field for the first time in 26 years without former head coach Mickey-Miles Felton and beat UCSD 13-8, but it was the Arizona mistakes that kept the Tritons in the game.

The Laxcats compiled 19 1/2 penalty minutes, compared to four minutes by UCSD. The Tritons were able to capitalize, scoring eight goals when they had a man advantage.

"(The penalties) were a huge factor," Hopkins said. "The refs controlled the game, and we had a lack of focus."

UA fell behind in the first quarter 1-4, but with three quick goals to start off the second quarter, the Laxcats tied the game. In the second quarter, the Laxcats went on a 6-2 run to go into halftime leading 7-6.

The third quarter was played back and forth as every time UCSD scored, the Laxcats responded with a goal. UA went into the final quarter leading 9-8.

However, the final quarter made the difference for UA. The Laxcats cut down on their penalties and ended the game with four unanswered goals.

Yesterday, the Laxcats controlled the ball most of the game and beat USD 13-6. UA kept possession of the ball for the majority of the game but had trouble capitalizing.

UA jumped out to an early lead and never trailed in the contest.

Junior attackman Jay Spatafora led all Laxcats scorers with nine goals over the weekend, but the team got contributions from many players.

Senior goalie Greg Parkington said that while he was happy with the two wins, many areas still need improvement.

"Defensively, we need to communicate better and work on our changes," Parkington said.

Hopkins said the team did everything well this weekend, but they only did so in short spurts. He said that out of the 120 minutes of lacrosse they played over the weekend, only about 23 minutes of it were played at the teams' full potential.

"Overall, we won," Hopkins said. "We are 2-0. If we'd have won 1-0 or 35-2, it really doesn't matter."