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South Valley Riverton Journal

Youth Lacrosse Wins State Championship

Aug 04, 2015 10:57AM ● By Bryan Scott

Thunder Division 1

By Greg James

South Valley - There are lots of firsts in life: the first day of school, your first love and the first time you drive a car. The fifth- and sixth-grade boys in the Herriman youth lacrosse program experienced the organization’s first state championship this month.

The Division 1 Thunder Mustang lacrosse team defeated Park City 8-7 on June 5 for the division state championship. They closed out the season with only one loss and scored 104 goals in its 10 games, the most in the league.

“Our season was great. We only lost one game and came back to beat them (Park City) in the championship game. These are amazing kids and we had great support from the parents. They brought cowbells and pom-poms for the championship game and it made the kids very excited,” Thunder Division head coach Kent Christensen said.

The Mustangs jumped out to an early three goal lead in the championship game. Then Park City scored four unanswered goals and held the lead for most of the second half. With three minutes remaining in the game, the Mustangs scored the game-winning goal to secure the victory.

Winning games was not the only focus for the state champions. Their coaches focused on the acronym ROOTS to teach the players the importance of the game. The meaning of the team slogan is respect for rules, officials, opponents, teammates and self.

“We wanted to make sure each kid learned more from the game. Everyone knew they were responsible for our success and getting to that championship game. They all did their part throughout the season and we earned the first Herriman youth championship,” Christensen said.

Herriman boys lacrosse is for first graders through eighth and they play a spring and fall season. More information can be found at www.herrimanlacrosse.org. The number of players in the league has increased. “The league has outgrown the number of coaches we have,” Christensen noted.