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By Phil Villarreal
Arizona Daily Wildcat
October 21, 1996
If tough preseason competition makes a team stronger, the Arizona men's club lacrosse team has every reason to believe in itself.The Laxcats came away from the Air Force Academy Lacrosse Tournament with two wins in three games against NCAA teams Saturday.
The Laxcats opened tournament play by defeating Regis College, a Division III team, 10-5.
"We played well up here," Laxcats head coach Mickey-Miles Felton said. "We spread the Laxcat tradition. Of the three teams we faced, we were as good, if not better than them."
Although the Laxcats advanced to the second round of the tournament, they did so at a price. Team captain Dave Wilner went down with an ankle injury.
The Laxcats pulled together to take on third-seeded University of Denver. The game was close throughout, but Denver scored the deciding goal with just 25 seconds left to play to slip past the Laxcats 5-4 in a defensive battle, sending the Laxcats to the losers' bracket.
"We were very disappointed," Wilner said. "I had a whole different perspective, watching the game from the bench."
Despite the tough loss, Felton said he was pleased that his team participated in the tournament.
"It was much better than beating the hell out of (club) teams," Felton said. Wilner recovered from his injury in time to help the Laxcats face Colorado in the consolation game.
In their third battle against a Colorado team in one day, the Laxcats defeated the Buffaloes 8-6 to finish in a fifth-place tie in the tournament.
Felton said that one of the brightest spots in the Laxcats' play came from goaltender C.J. Seitz.
"C.J. Seitz played a great game," Felton said. "He did an outstanding job. He stepped up his level of play for the tournament."
Attackman Dan Price said he was impressed by the team's play.
"I thought we showed a lot of promise," Price said.
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