Saturday, April 25
Salt lake City, UT
12:00PM
Air Force Academy
at
#18 Utah
Photo by: Dylan Smith
Falcon Lacrosse Takes the Fight to No. 18 Utah in Regular Season Finale
4/24/2026 10:00:00 AM | Men's Lacrosse
GAME 13
Air Force (5-7, 3-1 ASUN) at #18 Utah (9-3, 4-0 ASUN)
12pm MT, Saturday, April 25
Ute Field, Salt Lake City, UT
Air Force travels to Salt Lake City to take on the conference front-running Utes in the regular season finale, April 25. Action at Ute Field is slated for noon MT.
A Brief History
The Falcons and Utes are meeting for the 10th time since Utah joined Division I lacrosse. Air Force leads the all-time series, 5-4. Utah won last season's regular season finale in overtime, 16-15, at USAFA. Air Force had the final say, besting Utah in the ASUN Championship game, 11-10, to earn the automatic NCAA Tournament berth. Seven of the nine games, and the last four games, were decided by a one goal differential. The Falcons are 2-0 against Utah at Ute Field.
A Look at the Utes
Utah, the preseason favorite to win the league, will take the field under the command of Andrew McMinn in his fifth season at the helm of the program. In each of his four prior seasons, McMinn has led the Utes to at least a share of the ASUN regular season championship with two outright titles (2022, '23), two conference tournament crowns (2023, '24) and a pair of NCAA Tournament appearances (2023, '24).
The Utes lead the nation in points per game (25.92), assists per game (9.75), caused turnovers per game (12.75), ground balls per game (40.00), and scoring offense (16.17).
Utah boasts three preseason ASUN Player of the Year athletes in Ryan Stines (OPOTY), Nikko DiPonio (DPOTY), and Tyler Kloeckl (SOTY). Stines (34g, 21a) and national scoring leader Luke McNamara (52g, 4a, 4.33 gpg) lead the offensive charge.
DiPonio is second in the nation in caused turnovers per game (2.75) and 19th in the nation in ground balls per game (6.08). Kloeckl is second in the league, 21st in the nation in face off win percentage (.588).
Stines and DiPonio were among the 11 players selected nationally in the second round of additions to the Tewaaraton Award Watch List. This marks the second year in a row that Stines has been named to the Tewaaraton Watch List
Setting the Stage
The ASUN tournament competitors have been decided with one game remaining to finalize seeding. Utah, the current league front-runner, is 4-0 in conference play. An Air Force (3-1) win against the Utes in conjunction with a Jacksonville (3-1) loss will give Air Force a share of the regular season title and the top seed. If AF and JU both win, there will be a three-way split for the regular season title and there will be a multi-team tiebreaker scenario to determine the top three seeds. The same multi-team tiebreaker will also take place to determine the bottom three seeds if both AF and JU lose. If Utah and Jacksonville both win, they will split the regular season title and enter a two-way tie breaker scenario.
Multi-Team Ties: In the case of a tie between more than two teams, the following process will be used. (Note: The entire process for multi-team ties will be completed, and the conference will not revert back to the two-way tie formula once the multi-team tie has been resolved).
Two-way Ties: In the case of a two-way tie between teams in the final standings of regular season conference play, this process will be used until all ties are broken and the seeding process is completed (ties will be broken in rank order beginning with the highest seed).
Last Time Out
Air Force secured its fifth-straight ASUN Tournament berth in as many seasons with the league following the 17-9 win against Mercer at Falcons Stadium. The Falcons, now on a three-game win streak, improved to 5-7 with a 3-1 mark in the conference.
Driggs Nabs All-Time Goals Record
Senior attacker Caelan Driggs scored his 128th career goal last weekend, becoming the program's all-time goals leader with 128 career goals to his credit. Driggs takes the torch from lacrosse great Mike Crampton (2011-14). Driggs now has 156 career points, tying former teammate Josh Yago for sixth most in program history.
Peaking at the Right Time
After relatively quiet first half of the season— six goals in the first six games, Caelan Driggs has 23 goals in the last five games, averaging 3.75 goals per game in ASUN Conference play. His scoring tear was highlighted by a career high eight goals against Providence. Driggs has scored a hat trick in all-but-one ASUN game and has six hat trick-plus games this season.
Cunningham Moves into the Record Book
C1C Cole Cunningham has moved into the all-time top 10 ground balls leaders. Cunningham, with 56 this season and 186 career ground balls, is now seventh most. His 85 ground balls last season were enough for sixth in single-season ground balls.
Fantastic Freshman
C4C attack Christian Schweiger is a force to be reckoned with heading into the final game of the season. A native of Lebanon, N.J., Schweiger has 40 points via 26 goals and 14 assists. He has six hat tricks this season highlighted by three-goal games against No. 5 Duke and No. 10 Ohio State. He is the only Falcon to have tallied a point in every game of the season.
A Look Ahead
The ASUN Championship will be hosted by Jacksonville, May 1-3. Air Force will compete for against Utah, Jacksonville and Mercer for a conference tournament title. Seeds will be determined at the conclusion of Saturday's action.
Rock Stadium – Jacksonville, Fla.
Semifinals – Friday, May 1
#1 seed vs. #4 seed, 3 pm ET
#2 seed vs. #3 seed, 6 pm ET
Championship Final – Sunday, May 3
1 pm ET
Air Force (5-7, 3-1 ASUN) at #18 Utah (9-3, 4-0 ASUN)
12pm MT, Saturday, April 25
Ute Field, Salt Lake City, UT
Air Force travels to Salt Lake City to take on the conference front-running Utes in the regular season finale, April 25. Action at Ute Field is slated for noon MT.
A Brief History
The Falcons and Utes are meeting for the 10th time since Utah joined Division I lacrosse. Air Force leads the all-time series, 5-4. Utah won last season's regular season finale in overtime, 16-15, at USAFA. Air Force had the final say, besting Utah in the ASUN Championship game, 11-10, to earn the automatic NCAA Tournament berth. Seven of the nine games, and the last four games, were decided by a one goal differential. The Falcons are 2-0 against Utah at Ute Field.
A Look at the Utes
Utah, the preseason favorite to win the league, will take the field under the command of Andrew McMinn in his fifth season at the helm of the program. In each of his four prior seasons, McMinn has led the Utes to at least a share of the ASUN regular season championship with two outright titles (2022, '23), two conference tournament crowns (2023, '24) and a pair of NCAA Tournament appearances (2023, '24).
The Utes lead the nation in points per game (25.92), assists per game (9.75), caused turnovers per game (12.75), ground balls per game (40.00), and scoring offense (16.17).
Utah boasts three preseason ASUN Player of the Year athletes in Ryan Stines (OPOTY), Nikko DiPonio (DPOTY), and Tyler Kloeckl (SOTY). Stines (34g, 21a) and national scoring leader Luke McNamara (52g, 4a, 4.33 gpg) lead the offensive charge.
DiPonio is second in the nation in caused turnovers per game (2.75) and 19th in the nation in ground balls per game (6.08). Kloeckl is second in the league, 21st in the nation in face off win percentage (.588).
Stines and DiPonio were among the 11 players selected nationally in the second round of additions to the Tewaaraton Award Watch List. This marks the second year in a row that Stines has been named to the Tewaaraton Watch List
Setting the Stage
The ASUN tournament competitors have been decided with one game remaining to finalize seeding. Utah, the current league front-runner, is 4-0 in conference play. An Air Force (3-1) win against the Utes in conjunction with a Jacksonville (3-1) loss will give Air Force a share of the regular season title and the top seed. If AF and JU both win, there will be a three-way split for the regular season title and there will be a multi-team tiebreaker scenario to determine the top three seeds. The same multi-team tiebreaker will also take place to determine the bottom three seeds if both AF and JU lose. If Utah and Jacksonville both win, they will split the regular season title and enter a two-way tie breaker scenario.
Multi-Team Ties: In the case of a tie between more than two teams, the following process will be used. (Note: The entire process for multi-team ties will be completed, and the conference will not revert back to the two-way tie formula once the multi-team tie has been resolved).
- Records between the tied teams will be evaluated to determine if one team won more contests against the other tied teams.
- If a tie still exists, a comparison of records will be conducted for each team starting with the highest seed not involved in the tie and continuing through the lowest seed.
- Comparison of record versus out-of-conference common opponents.
- Goal differential between tied teams (the goal differential can be no greater than eight in any contest).
- Goal differential among all conference competition (the goal differential can be no greater than eight in any one contest).
- Conference office determination using criteria used by the NCAA committee (full body of work).
Two-way Ties: In the case of a two-way tie between teams in the final standings of regular season conference play, this process will be used until all ties are broken and the seeding process is completed (ties will be broken in rank order beginning with the highest seed).
- Head-to-Head competition - the higher seed will go to the team that has won the most League contests played against the other team involved in the tie.
- If a tie still exists, a comparison of records will be made between the tied teams starting with the highest possible seed and continuing through the lowest seed.
- Comparison of record versus out-of-conference common opponents.
- Goal differential between tied teams (the goal differential can be no greater than eight in any contest).
- Goal differential among all conference competition (the goal differential can be no greater than eight in any one contest).
- Conference office determination using criteria used by the NCAA committee (full body of work).
Last Time Out
Air Force secured its fifth-straight ASUN Tournament berth in as many seasons with the league following the 17-9 win against Mercer at Falcons Stadium. The Falcons, now on a three-game win streak, improved to 5-7 with a 3-1 mark in the conference.
Driggs Nabs All-Time Goals Record
Senior attacker Caelan Driggs scored his 128th career goal last weekend, becoming the program's all-time goals leader with 128 career goals to his credit. Driggs takes the torch from lacrosse great Mike Crampton (2011-14). Driggs now has 156 career points, tying former teammate Josh Yago for sixth most in program history.
Peaking at the Right Time
After relatively quiet first half of the season— six goals in the first six games, Caelan Driggs has 23 goals in the last five games, averaging 3.75 goals per game in ASUN Conference play. His scoring tear was highlighted by a career high eight goals against Providence. Driggs has scored a hat trick in all-but-one ASUN game and has six hat trick-plus games this season.
Cunningham Moves into the Record Book
C1C Cole Cunningham has moved into the all-time top 10 ground balls leaders. Cunningham, with 56 this season and 186 career ground balls, is now seventh most. His 85 ground balls last season were enough for sixth in single-season ground balls.
Fantastic Freshman
C4C attack Christian Schweiger is a force to be reckoned with heading into the final game of the season. A native of Lebanon, N.J., Schweiger has 40 points via 26 goals and 14 assists. He has six hat tricks this season highlighted by three-goal games against No. 5 Duke and No. 10 Ohio State. He is the only Falcon to have tallied a point in every game of the season.
A Look Ahead
The ASUN Championship will be hosted by Jacksonville, May 1-3. Air Force will compete for against Utah, Jacksonville and Mercer for a conference tournament title. Seeds will be determined at the conclusion of Saturday's action.
Rock Stadium – Jacksonville, Fla.
Semifinals – Friday, May 1
#1 seed vs. #4 seed, 3 pm ET
#2 seed vs. #3 seed, 6 pm ET
Championship Final – Sunday, May 3
1 pm ET
Players Mentioned
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/ Men's Lacrosse
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/ Men's Lacrosse
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/ Men's Lacrosse
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