Utah Warriors Win Under The Lights In Miami

MIAMI — Utah took on the form of Road Warriors on Saturday when blasting the Miami Sharks 36-19.

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Success hasn’t come easy for the Utah Warriors on the East Coast historically, but you’d never assume as much when watching Saturday’s game unfold. The Warriors asserted themselves physically from the get-go and rolled clear to finish in putting together one of the more impressive road wins in franchise history.

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“I think we actually left a few points out there, but we’re obviously very pleased with the result,” said Warriors Coach Greg Cooper. “We had some frustrating moments, but what made me proud is we didn’t let it get the better of us.”

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Utah’s frustrations initially came in not cashing in on multiple try-scoring opportunities for the game’s first 19 minutes despite completely dominating possession. A lone penalty kick from D’Angelo Leuila in the ninth minute gave Utah an early 3-0 lead, which could have led to some frustrations considering the course of play.

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But Utah forged ahead from there, scoring three tries in the first half’s final 20 minutes to take a commanding 24-7 lead into the break.

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Scrum Half Zion Going accounted for the first try, dotting the ball down following an impressive offload from Spencer Jones to give Utah a 10-0 lead in the 19th minute. Then just five minutes later saw Going score an almost identical try, which was again assisted by Jones for a 17-0 lead.

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For Going, he was impressive throughout while taking full advantage of another opportunity to start the game.

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“Zion was really good running his lines and took the opportunity that was given him,” Cooper said. “He’s put in a lot of good work and it paid off for him today. He was very good out there.”

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Miami then got on the board with a try of its own in the 26th minute to cut the lead to 17-7 before Jordan Trainor responded just three minutes later to push the lead back up to 24-7. Trainor’s try came by virtue of a great diving save of the ball by Joel Hodgson which he then offloaded to Joe Mano who in turn off-loaded to Trainor for the score.

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“Joel has always been a great playmaker for us and a great architect out there, but he’s not alone,” Cooper said. “I feel we have a lot of guys making things easy for everyone else and that’s what you saw today.”

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Miami was issued a red card right before the end of the half, but the man advantage lasted just over a minute after Tu Vugakoto was handed out a yellow card just seconds later.

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The cards were issued out in earnest from there, with Utah on the wrong end of it with Jordan Trainor receiving a yellow card in the 62nd minute and Frank Lochore in the 63rd. The result was a two-man advantage for the Sharks, which they took good advantage of.

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Tries were scored by the Sharks in both the 66th and 70th minutes before Utah’s time in the sin bin was over, and Utah responded immediately. Trainor scored his second try of the game in the 73rd minute following a brilliant run-out and off-load from Hodgson before Nic Benn capped off the scoring in the 80th minute on a try courtesy of a well-placed kick from Trainor.

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“I was proud of how we finished the game after having some adversity, but we’re used to that,” Cooper said. “We arrived here late in Miami last night, but the boys responded and I’m very pleased with the result and the play out there today.”

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With the win Utah improves to 3-1 on the season along with 15 points and will next travel to take on the Seattle Seawolves.

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