On Saturday, June 27th, the Missoula Elite Lacrosse summer high school men’s team traveled to Bozeman for a game against the Gallatin Valley Lacrosse team. Both teams were evenly matched and the game slugged out for two overtime periods before the hosting Bozeman team converted a fast break game winner. The final score was 5-4 in favor of Bozeman.

Offensively, the MEL boys were led by Dane Kuhn (SR, Hellgate), who chipped in two goals at attack, and Matt Gosselin (SR, Big Sky) who put in two goals from the midfield and also recorded an assist. Midfielders Tanner Pace (SO, Big Sky), Al Plant (FR, Arlee), and Logan Kuhn (FR, Hellgate) all had solid performances, especially in the clearing game, and Mike Vessey (Grad, Sentinel) and Ryan Fowler (SO, Big Sky) set the tone on the defensive side of the midfield by laying some crushing hits during the contest.

Defenders Joel Colbert (SR, Hellgate), Mike Lloyd (Grad, Sentinel), and Jake Smith (FR, Sentinel) each had good performances, winning at least 5 ground balls each during the game. Goaltender Rian Tuttle (SR, Hellgate) had another great game in goal, recording 14 saves on the day and Colten Birdeau (SO, Sentinel) stepped in for a few minutes of leading the team in cage when Rian went down to injury during the 1st quarter.

Overall, it was a good growing experience for some of the younger players on the MEL roster and the team is looking forward to their rematch with Bozeman on July 18th here in Missoula. Thanks to the GVLL program for hosting and for all the families who made the trek to Bozeman.

Tags: Bozeman, Men's JV, Men's Varsity, Scrimmage, Summer

This entry was posted on Monday, July 27th, 2009 at 9:01 am and is filed under Men's JV, Men's Varsity, zFeatured. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.