Momentum can be all it takes to propel a team through the postseason. After winning seven of its last eight games, the ASU women's lacrosse club has just that and needs to string together only four more wins for a national title.
After finishing third in the Western Women's Lacrosse League, ninth-seeded ASU will face eighth-seeded Maryland in the U.S. Lacrosse League Women's Association national tournament, scheduled for May 10-14 in Blaine, Minn.
"I think it's really good that we're playing an East Coast team so that we can prove to the East that we are contenders nationally," ASU coach Tyna LaBarre said. "Maryland is a big lacrosse school so we're excited to play them, but we're totally confident that we can beat them."
The Sun Devils (11-5) have reason to be confident. The WWLL boasts three of the nation's top-10 teams: Cal Poly, Santa Barbara and Santa Clara. The Sun Devils have downed Santa Clara twice this year, while falling to Santa Barbara twice in closely contested battles. Cal Poly has won the USL-WDIA national championship every year since the tournament was created in 2000.
"We feel very confident going into the tournament because we see the top-seeded teams during regular season," said Megan Hemmeler, president of the ASU women's lacrosse club. "This will be our third time playing most of them.
"We've played the No. 1 team in the country twice already this year, and we've held them pretty close both times. So we feel very confident that we can take the whole thing."
The Sun Devils accredit their strong defensive play for their third-place conference finish, the best in club history.
"We're not changing a thing and just playing our style," LaBarre said. "We have a really strong defense, and we're working on offensive creativity. With our defense, it's like, 'if it's not broke, don't fix it.' "
The national tournament appearance will be the first for ASU since the club moved up to Division 1 play in 2002.
"To finish third in the league and just to make it to nationals was a huge goal accomplishment for us, so we feel like anything we do at nationals is extra," LaBarre said. "That fact is keeping the team relaxed. They know how to get it done; it's just a matter of going out there and doing it."
The tournament will be broadcast on College Sports Television at 8 p.m. on June 2.
Hemmeler said the club's perseverance will be invaluable at the national tournament.
"We fought trough a lot this year," Hemmeler said. "We've all worked really hard and deserve to be there."
Reach the reporter at michael.fowler@asu.edu.
