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Utah lacrosse burst onto the Division I men’s lacrosse scene on Friday night at Rice-Eccles Stadium.

Literally, the team burst right through the customary drum-and-feather logo that so many Utes teams had done before them. 

Brian Holman launched his team into Division I men’s lacrosse — capping a two-year process that started when he moved to Salt Lake City in the summer of 2017 — when the Utes battled Vermont in their first game in program history. Over 3,000 fans came out to watch the Utes battle the Catamounts.

The occasion was the first step in Utah’s march toward eventually becoming a contending Division I program. The highlight of its matchup the Catamounts came early in the first quarter, when Jimmy Perkins (a transfer from Robert Morris) scored the program’s first goal.

Vermont, however, dominated the game from start to finish — cruising to the 21-6 win. Ben French scored four goals and added two assists to lead the Catamounts, with David Closterman and Rob Hudson tallying three goals each. Dawes Michling added two goals and three assists.

Josh Stout, a Utah native, recorded the first hat trick in program history to lead the Utes.

Rob Hudson scored two of Vermont’s first three goals, helping his team jump out to a 4-1 lead early in the first quarter. Stout scored to cut the deficit to two goals, before the Catamounts scored six straight to blow the game open.

Down 10-2 in the second quarter, Utah got two more goals from Stout to make it 10-4 at halftime. Vermont continued to pile on the goals in the third quarter, outscoring Utah by five goals to take a 16-5 lead into the fourth quarter.'

Five different players scored for Vermont to close out the fourth quarter. Vermont scored four or more goals in each quarter. It outshot Utah 45-29 and won 16 of 29 faceoffs.

Utah will host Mercer next Saturday in its second game at Rice-Eccles Stadium. Vermont will travel to Navy next Saturday.