After giving up 12 goals to No. 6 Michigan Wednesday night, the Arizona men's club lacrosse team hosts UCLA Sunday at Murphy Stadium at 1 p.m.
"It was a learning experience, but we're going to try to regroup as a family," said junior defender Carson Parmelee of the Laxcats mid-week loss.
Parmelee was referring to the team motto of "family" which the squad has selected this season. On a daily basis, many of the players wear shirts to practice with the word printed on the back.
The Bruins (0-1, 2-4) arrive in Tucson after facing ASU Saturday and should have their hands full on defense as senior attackman Dave Sherman and freshmen attackmen Eric Poole and Adam Paris look to make up for the lack of scoring in Wednesday's disappointing 12-1 loss to the Wolverines.
Recently, the Bruins have suffered from a scoring draught of their own.
In six games, UCLA has scored an average of less than five goals per game.
Midfielder Will Jun scored tow goals and an assist while attackman Jon Reed put in two goals himself in the last UCLA defeat at the hands of San Diego 14-7.
Laxcats head coach Ken Broschart gave the team the day off Thursday to recuperate from the blows taken Wednesday evening.
Practice sessions will resume again Friday.
After Sunday's meeting, Arizona will play San Diego State March 12 and UCSD the following day when the Laxcats pay a visit to the west coast before beginning spring break.
First-place ruggers head to California for SoCal Conference pair
The Arizona men's club rugby team makes its third and final trip of the regular season to California, where they play a SoCal Conference contest against UC -Santa Barbara tonight at 7:30 on the UCSB football field, followed by another game Sunday against Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo at noon.
Arizona is coming off two strong wins the last two weeks against San Diego State and San Diego, as the Wildcats look to win its sixth conference championship in ten seasons.
The Wildcats begin the weekend tied for first with Long Beach State.
Both teams remain the only schools in the conference with one loss.
"These standings are rough and tumble. With the new points table to determine a league champion, everything is still up for grabs," said Arizona head coach Dave Sitton.
This season, a win is worth four points in the table, and a win with four tries is worth five points. Matches resulting in a draw will award both teams with two points.
Arizona achieved the maximum score against both the Toreros and the Aztecs last weekend.
Along with the Gauchos comes a bitter rivalry, which has gone back and forth the last two years.
Last season, the Gauchos defeated Arizona 28-17 and in 2003 Arizona upset UCSB in Santa Barbara 19-12.
Arizona assistant coach Tyson Swetnam said he made sure that every feature of the team's game was finely tuned for the weekend's matchups.
"We're trying to find continuity within our scrums. We want eight guys working together as big, cohesive tanks," he said.
The team practiced keeping the ball close to the ground to avoid defenders' quick closing time.
Sunday, the Ruggers engage the Mustangs, who look to extend their three-game winning streak over Arizona.
Cal Poly, with two conference losses, is fighting to stay competitive in the SoCal standings.
The intensity of this weekend for the Ruggers should give Arizona a bit of steam heading into its March 26 contest with in-state rival ASU.