MISSOULA, Mont. -- After a tough home loss to Sonoma State last weekend, Oregon State men’s lacrosse has an away game against Montana to try and right the ship. Oregon State comes into the game with a record of 4-2 and ranked 14th in the country. The hosts, Montana, have started the season with a 2-3 record and will be looking for their first conference victory.

OSU coach Chad Stelling was disappointed by the loss last weekend, but he knows the importance of winning conference games, especially on the road. The Beavers will use the loss against Sonoma as motivation and are focused on getting back on track against Montana.

“This game is huge for us,” said Stelling. “Our whole focus this week has been to just get right and get ourselves healthy, focused, and ready for another conference game.”

Coming off of a loss, the Beavers have emphasized regrouping and coming together as a team.

The game against Sonoma caught some OSU players off guard, and senior midfielder Ryan Hearon will look to change the mentality of his teammates before the game against Montana.

“We need to be more focused, we were over confident last week and that hurt us,” said Hearon. “We need to keep our focus no matter who we are playing and we need to be on top of our game to get a win this week.”

The trip to Montana presents a unique opportunity for OSU, who struggled in some key areas last weekend. Coach Stelling is focused on two main points for his team in their first conference road game.

“We’ve been working on offensive efficiency and defensive assignments,” said Stelling. “On offense, that means getting guys in the right spots and understanding what’s going on from their defensive perspective which will allow us to do what we want to do offensively.”

The Beavers allowed their highest goal total of the season against Sonoma. In their wins this season, the defense has communicated at a high level, which is something OSU worked on getting back to for this weekend.

“From a defensive assignment standpoint, knowing who our help is and where [Montana] is coming from,” said Stelling. “This is an opportunity for us to clean some things up and feel a little bit better about where we are going.”

Game time is 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, March 12.

“It’s definitely a long trip and going on the road for a conference game is never easy,” said Hearon. “It will be a new challenge for us against a team that we don’t know to much about so definitely a big test.