Jordan is the lacrosse team to beat

SANDY — Entering its 10th year of competitive play, the Jordan lacrosse team has — to borrow a phrase — come a long way, baby.

The Beetdiggers, after a few years of growing pains and plenty of losses, have emerged as perhaps the team to beat in the state.

While the sport of lacrosse is still in its infancy in many ways in the state, there are a dozen or so high-quality teams. Jordan, certainly, is one of them.

"Our focus is always to make it to the Final Four," Fish Bartlett, Jordan's coach said. "I know we have to play some really good teams, but we feel we have the depth to do that."

Challenging Jordan for supremacy in the Division A South standings are Waterford, Riverton and Juan Diego. Leading the 'Diggers, though, is an incredibly strong attack with several legit scoring options.

"Fast breaks are gold. Man ups are gold," Bartlett said of his scoring attack. "We've got some kids that have been playing the sport for a long time. They have a lot of maturity in the game and know how to score and create shots."

Jordan McKenzie and Corey Gunderson are among the top goal scorers in the state. And Bartlett said third option Nathanial Robinson may be the best player on the team. "He sets everything up for those guys," he said.

They are hardly alone in being an offensive threat, though.

Waterford's JT Nebeker can create and score goals with the best of them. Riverton's Chad Frost and Gavin Madsen also form a challenging attack.

At Juan Diego, the offense might not be as strong as some division opponents, but goal keeper Dallas McLellan has shown a high level of skill in the net.

"He plays out of his mind," Bartlett said. "The kid was making legit saves. We played against him and had shots that I thought for sure were in. Things that should have been in the net, he was reaching out and grabbing them. I thought we had a goal, and he was firing it back out."

With the state playoffs less than a month away, the Beetdiggers, Ravens and a host of other teams are hoping for good weather and time to sharpen their games.

ALTA: The Hawks are led by Cort Wright and Josh Snyder on offense with sophomore Blake Bowen holding things down in goal. Coach Taylor Cotterell will also rely on senior defender Alex Nash and Landon Smith joining the midfielders. Alta spent spring break at a tournament in Virginia and hopes hope that East Coast experience will help them in a division loaded with tough teams.