by Jac Coyne | MCLA.us

LA CROSSE, Wis. – Brigham Young has always been an early riser. When the calendar flips to February, the Cougars are locked into a regular season game, typically on the road, before two weeks are gone in the second month.

From 2015-23 (excluding ’21), the average starting date for BYU was Feb. 7. Heck, in 2020 – before things got weird – the Cougars kicked off the season at Auburn on Jan. 31. They weren’t always the first team out of the chute, but they were always pretty close.

Today, we’ve jumped into March and BYU still hasn’t suited up for an MCLA contest. Did the Cougars forget to set an alarm? What gives?

SCHEDULE: FRIDAY | SATURDAY | SUNDAY

“We do our best to schedule teams that finished the previous season as a ranked, tournament team,” said Brigham Young coach Matt Schneck. “Once we worked through all of those variables, we started filling up our travel schedule. We hit four regular-season road trips quickly but, unfortunately, none of them were in February.”

Schneck had a handshake agreement for a February trip made at nationals last year, but the logistics didn’t work out. The biggest scheduling hurdle the Cougars face is not playing on Sunday.

Since the dawn of the MCLA, BYU has never played on Sunday, steadfastly standing by its LDS convictions. It’s a disciplined approach, but it’s not always conducive to creating a coherent schedule.

“Not playing on Sundays adds a wrinkle to the scheduling process for quite a few teams, especially when you are hoping to pick up multiple games on the trip,” said Schneck.

What is the MCLA Division I Game of the Week for the period ending March 3? #mcla24
— 2024 MCLA National Tourney (@MCLA_Tournament) February 26, 2024

As such, it brings into play Thursdays and Mondays in order to make road trips work. For instance, Northeastern visits Utah Valley Saturday before waiting to take on BYU on Monday.

The unusually long wait to start the season has given the Cougar players a serious case of cabin fever.

“After 6 months of beating up on each other, they are ready to play,” Schneck said. “We had a great fall ball and quality preseason scrimmages including NCAA competition. Now that it's game week, everyone is getting dialed in and ready for a great weekend of games followed by three weeks on the road.”

BYU may not have been playing, they have been keeping close tabs on how the rest of the MCLA competition has been starting the season. While the team posted a cumulative squad GPA of 3.67 last semester, there is plenty of time between studies to keep track of who looks destined for Round Rock.

“With the MCLA season in full swing, there is some special attention being given to the teams that we have on the schedule this year,” said Schneck. “We have a few lax junkies, but they are also in the middle of the school year, so there is definitely a balance that needs to be reached.”

The expectations in Provo are always elevated with its long history of success in the association, but this year holds special promise for BYU. The attack line of Jake Halversen (71 points), Alton Taylor (37) and Gavin Taylor (42) will be prolific while a potential first middie line of Dalin Clark (43), Andrew Freedman (24) and Stew Vassau (35) will make the Cougars doubly dangerous.

What is the MCLA Division II Game of the Week for the period ending March 3? #mcla24
— 2024 MCLA National Tourney (@MCLA_Tournament) February 26, 2024

“Our offense has the potential to be one of the best that BYU has had in several years,” admitted Schneck. “The key will be to keep these guys healthy throughout the season and into the postseason. Collectively, they have a lot of game experience and the chemistry is getting better each week.”

The defense has nine players who started or received significant minutes in ’23 and will be anchored by talented goalie Easton Wilkey, a 6-foot-4 rookie out of Orem.

Arizona State, which opened its season three weeks ago, will be seeing an experienced – and well rested – BYU outfit on Saturday.

No more hitting the snooze button. The Cougars are ready to rise and shine.

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GAMES I’M FOLLOWING

No. 2 Dayton at No. 15 Wake Forest, 5 p.m. – Friday
There they are! The defending champs have finally emerged from their nine-month hibernation and are ready to start a repeat run. They’ll start it against a Wake Forest outfit that already has seven games under its belt and will only have three games left in the regular season after Sunday. With both teams playing three games this weekend, this will be the freshest each squad gets. I’d expect a little rust from the Flyers, but they are still considerable favorites.

No. 13 Missouri State at No. 3 St. Thomas, 7 p.m. – Friday
MoState took its lumps at the Rocky Mountain Rumble, but that experience should help them going up against a Tommies team that is already locked in. The Bears avenue to Round Rock goes through the LSA – in which they are massive favorites – so testing themselves against a semifinal-caliber outfit is always helpful.

No. 22 College of Idaho at No. 20 Utah State, 7:30 p.m. – Friday
The Aggies got upended by Denver to start the season while the Yotes have a pair of middling victories on their resume to date. College of Idaho is trying to bounce back from a sub-.500 campaign in ’23 with a new coach in Drake O’Neill, so Utah State will provide a good test. This would appear to be a toss-up at this point, and a game both would like to have.

No. 11 Kennesaw State at No. 19 Coastal Carolina, 12 p.m. - Saturday
The Owls have a pair of ranked games this weekend – they get No. 15 Wake Forest on Sunday – but they open with the No. 19 Chanticleers in Conway. Coastal took an 8-7 lead into the fourth quarter against No. 6 UNC-Charlotte last week before bowing by one, so Kennesaw better not be looking ahead. On the flip side, the Chants will have to find an answer for rookie phenom Evan Suh, who is putting up video game numbers for the Owls.

Arizona State at Brigham Young, 1 p.m. – Saturday
The Sun Devils had their early-season momentum slowed with the one-goal home loss to Colorado, but ASU can pick right back up with a road win in Provo. As mentioned above, the Cougars have the potential to field one of the more dominant offensive teams in the last couple of years, so all eyes will be on the Devils’ All-American-caliber netminder Aidan Shah.

Clemson at No. 22 Southern Methodist, 1 p.m. – Saturday
The Mustangs are appropriately ranked at this point, but the game against the Tigers will be SMU’s first game against a (formerly) ranked outfit. Both teams play Friday – SMU has a divisional contest against TCU while Clemson tangles with No. 11 Texas – so it’s a fair fight. If the Mustangs win, the LSA AQ collision course between SMU and the Longhorns will be more apparent.

No. 20 Northwest Nazarene at No. 9 Cal State San Marcos, 2 p.m. – Saturday
The Nighthawks grabbed the biggest win in program history on Thursday when they outlasted No. 10 UC San Diego, 15-14. Now they have the opportunity to take a big step toward Round Rock if they can complete a SoCal sweep. They will run into an ornery San Marcos squad that is sitting at 1-3 (1-2 vs. D-II competition) and in need of a pick-me-up. This trip is already a success for NNU, but it’s always good to get greedy.

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No. 6 Northeastern at No. 5 Utah Valley, 3 p.m. – Saturday
This is shaping up to be the game of the weekend as Boston meets Orem. Other than the pregame fist bump, junior goalies Max Sturgill and Sam Bellomy will likely not be within 50 yards of each other, but the two netminders will go a long way in determining a winner – and perhaps which All-American team they end up on. The defenses in front of each will be stressed as well. Normally you’d give a significant bump to the Wolverines considering the home field advantage and jetlag, but the Huskies love that stuff. Should be a gem.

Florida Atlantic at Minn.-Duluth, 10 a.m. – Sunday
A two-day, three-game set against ranked teams in Minnesota for a squad from Boca Raton? Somewhere, the selection committee nods its heads in collective approval. While the Owls will be hoping for the clean sweep to the weekend in this contest, odds are they’ll be trying to salvage a winning trip here. It’s a classic matchup between FAU’s potent offense and Duluth’s stingy defense. Whichever unit is better will carry the day.

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SLIDES & RIDES
- Some might look at this week’s poll and ask themselves, “Was Air Force’s win over Wyoming really enough to jump Dayton?” While typically there is a one-week lag time for pollsters to catch up with real time, there’s a little more to it. The Falcons actually have the same number of first-place votes as they did in week one.

Ostensibly, Dayton gave away two of its first-place votes to St. Thomas on the heels of the Tommies sweeping Montana and Montana State in Minot. And since we were two ballots light this week – both of which could have potentially gone to the Flyers – it’s easy to understand how Air Force rose to No. 1.

The Division I poll appears pretty spot on. I could make the argument that Texas and Cal are slightly overvalued at this point, but they’ll get a chance to prove their case soon enough.

- Arizona and Virginia Tech head to the Washington, D.C. metroplex – Reston, Va., to be specific – for a neutral site contest on Saturday. Obviously, it’s a lot more neutral for the Hokies (four-hour drive) than the Wildcats (six-hour flight), but it will be a chance for lacrosse fans in the DMV to watch some quality MCLA lacrosse. Both of the schools D-II teams will also be in action.

- Player and Goalie of the Week nominations due by noon on Monday from the head coaches, as usual. Polls close on Tuesday afternoon, but pollsters don’t have to wait to the last minute.