(from a Utah press release)

SALT LAKE CITY -- The Utah men's lacrosse team scored early and often en route to a 12-5 victory over RMLC foe Utah Valley on Tuesday. With the victory, the Utes won the conference regular season title, which comes with the No. 1 seed in the RMLC Tournament at the end of the month.

"It is an honor for us to be in first right now," said Utah coach Brian Holman. "I am happy for the kids and the staff. We have so much respect for all the coaches, teams, and history of our league, but we all know we have so much more ahead of us."

Utah (10-3, 4-0) dominated the first quarter, quickly putting the game out of reach.

Attackman Aaron Fjeldsted used great off ball movement to find space in the middle of the field, caught a feed from midfielder Ian Elson and then quickly shot to the far pipe just past the UVU goalie to open the scoring marker.

Attackman Alek Kirschner found the score sheet three minutes later when he scooped up a ground ball in the middle of the field, then shot low on the doorstep for the goal. Attackman Josh Stout, midfielder Cam Redmond and Elson added to the score, closing out the quarter with a 5-0 lead. Stout and Redmond both scored for Utah before the Wolverines scored two straight goals to make the score 7-2 at halftime.

The second half began the same way as the first half for Utah as the Utes went on a five-goal run. Midfielder Gus Colonna began the run with a time and room laser at the 13:41 mark in the third quarter. Fjeldsted and Elson took turns scoring the next four goals for the Utes, making the score 12-2 late in the third quarter. The Wolverines continued to push which led to the next three goals of the game.

The Utes were held scoreless in the fourth, but it didn't matter as Utah cruised to a 12-5 victory.

Utah was led by Stout who tallied two goals and four assists. Fjeldsted had three goals and two assists while Elson had three goals and an assist. Goalie Quinton Swinney, who continued to play well in cage for the Utes, notching 11 saves. Goalie Max Holmes earned his first stat of the season with a save late in the game. Holmes saw his first action of the season after recently recovering from a thumb injury.

"I thought Q [Quinton Swinney] was awesome and I thought Cam [Redmond] did a wonderful job as well," said Holman. "He does so much for us but I was most proud of our last-minute penalty-kill group. They know they are and they were fantastic."

The Utes will face Texas on Thursday at Ute Soccer Field. The game will begin at 7 p.m.