The Western men’s lacrosse team earned themselves another win this weekend.  The Vikings beat rival Western Oregon University 17-12 on Saturday afternoon while the sun beat down on Wade King Turf Field.  

Head coach Avram Feld said the Vikings came out and played tough.

“I think that the combination of home field advantage and just the desire to beat them won the day for us,” he said.

The Vikings made the first goal of the game and held the lead for the entire 60 minutes of playtime. The Vikings picked up more groundballs than Oregon 39-31 and outshot Oregon 28-23.

The two highest scorers of the game were attackman Sean Finley and midfielder Cody Bludorn, with four goals a piece.  Midfielders Charles Goodman and Willy Delius and attackman Brandon Morris each contributed two points.

Goodman said it was a combination of personal effort from each player mixed with a lot of team effort.  

“It was hard work. The whole team worked hard and put in a lot of good teamwork,” he said.  “This was a good win for us.”  

The first quarter ended with a 2-0 lead.  Midfielder Jeff Gillies made the first goal with an assist by Bludorn, and Goodman made the second goal with an assist by Morris. Western Oregon ramped up and got more physical in the second quarter, scoring four goals. Still, the Vikings outscored Western Oregon 5-4.

In the second half the Vikings continued to dominate the field. Bludorn and Delius each scored two goals in the third quarter and again, the Vikings outscored Oregon 4-3.  The Viking defense was on fire, giving Oregon’s offense a tough time near the goal line.

In the fourth quarter the Viking offense came through again, scoring six more points with Finley contributing three. Even though Western Oregon obtained five goals, they were unable to catch up to the Vikings who outscored them once again 6-4.  

Goalie Ian LaBelle said he didn’t make as many saves as he wanted with eight total, but the defensemen were on target with their game.

“I definitely wasn’t seeing the ball very well today, the sun was a factor, but the team makes it really easy for me,” he said.  

Feld said he feels great about the win because Western hasn’t beat rival Western Oregon in more than five years.

“I’m especially happy for the seniors, having never beat this team before,” he said. “It’s really great––they will definitely be able to look back after they’ve graduated and be proud.”

LaBelle said it felt good beating Western Oregon, having never experienced it before. But he said they had a game plan and were ready to win going against them.

“We had a really good week of preparation. Avram took care of us pretty well, making sure we knew what we were doing,” he said. “They have a really good face-off guy, but [midfielder] Eric Doyle made it easy for us to keep position by winning [the face-off] a lot of the time.”

Feld said the Vikings have their work cut out for them because in two weeks they are going to Minnesota to play against some tough opponents. One of the teams, University of St. Thomas, was the national champion last year.  

Goodman said the win this weekend was important to carry the momentum going to Minnesota.

“We have two weeks with no game time so we’ll have lots of practice before heading out there,” he said.  “We did a lot right today but we still have room for improvement.”

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