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By Phil Villarreal
Arizona Daily Wildcat
October 14, 1996
Thanks to a hat trick from an attackman and some superb goaltending from a rookie, the Laxcats managed to salvage a victory.The Laxcats began their fall exhibition season positively yesterday, beating the Arizona Lacrosse Club 7-6 at Bear Down Field.
The Laxcats scored often and early, racking up three goals in the first quarter. Dan Price and Chris Stinson recorded first-quarter goals while first-year goaltender C.J. Seitz kept the the opponent off the scoreboard.
"I felt pretty confident," Seitz said. "The defense played real well."
The Lacrosse Club stormed back in the second quarter, riddling the Laxcat defense with three straight goals. The Laxcats managed to score 30 seconds before halftime to grab a 4-3 lead.
In the second half, it was much the same story - the Laxcats stormed ahead only to lose most of their lead.
After the Lacrosse Club tied the game at the beginning of the third quarter, the Laxcats reeled off three straight goals, thrashing the opponent's goalie, a former Laxcat. The final Laxcat goal was scored by Price from an assist by freshman Bryan McLaughlin.
Price poured in three goals in all, the last of which sealed the victory.
"I've had hat tricks in the past," Price said. "I felt I could take my man pretty much every time."
The Laxcats entered the fourth quarter with a 7-5 lead, which allowed Arizona to give Seitz a rest.
The Laxcats held on to the lead in a penalty-riddled fourth quarter to earn the win.
Laxcat head coach Mickey-Miles Felton said he was pleased with the results of the game.
"I think it's really good that we had this game," he said. "You can practice against yourself, but the significance of this game was that we played against another team.
"At the first of the year, it's always nice to come away with a win against an experienced team."
Although they won over a solid team, the Laxcats acknowledged that they have room for improvement.
"I think to make our chances better we need more chemistry," Price said. "We need to keep the ball on the offensive side of the field more."
Felton agreed.
"We got taken out of some things we wanted to do," he said.
But Seitz said improvement has definitely been made.
"The new guys got their first-game jitters out of the way ... and people are starting to talk to each other," he said.
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