Glendale, AZ- ACU Lacrosse launched into the 2024 season with an impressive team win against the University of Arizona D2 team on Saturday.

GAME INFO

Score: ACU 16 | UofA (D2) 7

Records: 1-0 (1-0) | 0-1 (0-1)

Location: Glendale, AZ

STAT TRACKER

Caleb Schaapveld - 4 G, 5 GB

Ayden Oliver - 3 G, 2 A, 2 GB

Scout Koch - 3 G, 6 GB

Ethan Jordan - 2 G, 5 GB

Caleb Frey - 16 S, 7 GA, .696 S% 

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

ACU worked as a team on Saturday, coming together to defeat UofA D2. Despite UofA winning the day at the faceoff X, taking twenty of twenty-five opportunities and ACU committing twenty-five turnovers on the day, the Firestorm prevailed in a true team effort with eight different players scoring. UofA could not stay out of the penalty box, however, as ACU capitalized on five of nine extra man opportunities.

Caleb Schaapveld started the scoring at the 13:21 mark of the first quarter before UA tied the score on a goal at 8:23. ACU and UA traded the next two goals as the game remained tied until Scout Koch scored his second goal of the game at the 1:10 mark of the first quarter and ACU never looked back. Schaapveld scored four times on the day with Koch and Ayden Oliver adding three and Ethan Jordan netting a pair for the Firestorm. Goalie Caleb Frey made sixteen saves on the day earning a 70% save percentage.

THOUGHTS FROM COACH JAKE LANDON

"Our coaching staff is incredibly impressed with our guys and their focus on the controllables in this game.  All preseason we have been preaching about unity, playing as a team, and focusing on the controllables, and our guys did just that.  There were a lot of external factors vying for their attention, and while we showed our youth in some places, like our turnovers, the guys kept level heads and competed as a team. Awesome to see freshman Ayden Oliver have a breakout game, alongside goalkeeper Caleb Frey absolutely standing on his head. This was a fun way to kick off the season, and our guys are now refocusing as we begin divisional play against Fullerton and Claremont. We're looking forward to President's Day weekend."

NEXT UP FOR THE FIRESTORM

The Firestorm will continue their season in Fullerton, California on Friday, February 16th when they face off against CSU Fullerton and then face off against Claremont on Saturday, February 17th. Congrats on a big first win of the season.

Roll Storm!