In
late April, due to their impressive finish in the LSA tournament, the team
traveled to St. Louis for the annual USLIA championship tournament. With
only 17 players the Tigers paid their own way to fly up to St. Louis. While
they had tough time at the games, the team was honored to play with the best
lacrosse teams in the nation. Game results:BYU vs. Trinity
Brigham Young University opened defense of it's 1997 National Championship with a resounding defeat of Trinity University from San Antonio, Texas. The BYU victory was the 1st of 4 consecutive quarterfinal games at the Anheuser-Busch Sports Centre in St. Louis, Missouri. The Cougars dominated from start to finish with 7 goals apiece in the 1st and 2nd quarters. The 1998 RMILL champions were led by 1997 Tournament MVP Matt Davis with 4 goals and 1 assist. BYU also received strong efforts by Attackman Clint Felsted (3 goals, 1 assist), Midfielder Jared Archibald (2 goals) and Midfielder Johnny Jackson (2 goals). Attackman Kol Estreicher led Trinity with 4 goals in the losing cause. BYU advances to play the winner of the Virginia Tech/Colorado State quarterfinal matchup on Friday evening in the first Semifinal of the 1998 National Championship. Trinity will conclude it's 1998 season in the Consolation bracket on Friday afternoon.
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | TOTAL | |
| BYU | 7 | 7 | 2 | 3 | 19 |
| Trinity | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 7 |
Illinois vs. Trinity
In the other consolation game, Illinois dominated Trinity, rolling to a 12 goal victory. Attackman Dave Neff (2 goals, 2 assists), midfielder Sean McCone (4 goals), midfielder Brad Mooney (3 goals), and attackman Sean Lirette (1 goal, 3 assists) led the Fighting Illini. The Trinity Tigers had single goals from Jeff Carpenter (attack), Kol Estreicher (attack), David Cernosek (midfield), and Nicholas Yeager (midfield). Illinois ends it's season with a 19 - 4 record and Trinity concludes it's campaign with a 12 - 4 overall record. Select players from each squad will play in the USILA Associates All-star game on Sunday afternoon.
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | TOTAL | |
| Illinois | 3 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 16 |
| Trinity | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
1) Brigham Young University (7 first place
votes)
2) Univ. of California - Berkeley
3) (tie) Simon Fraser Univ.
3) (tie) Virginia Tech
5) Univ. of Illinois
6) Colorado State Univ.
7) Sonoma State Univ.
8) Univ. of Colorado
9) Univ. of Georgia
10) Univ. of Michigan
11) Univ. of Arizona
12) Univ. of Texas
13) Univ. of California - Santa Barbara
14) Auburn Univ.
15) Western Washington Univ.
16) Trinity Univ.
17) Whitman College
18) Univ. of Tennessee
19) Loyola Marymount Univ.
20) (tie) Santa Clara Univ.
20) (tie) Ft. Lewis College
22) Georgia Tech
23) Univ. of Oregon
24) Emory Univ.
25) Vanderbilt Univ.