The last time I caught up with ASU lacrosse was late February. They were off to a quick 4-0 start, but a lot has changed since then. I must have had some sort of jinx on them because they lost to Chapman 8-7 that next week. Since the loss to Chapman, the team has won nine of their last ten games.
What makes their run all the more impressive is that ASU has played all their games away from Tempe. Due to stadium renovations for the Phoenix FC soccer team, ASU has been forced out of their normal home and onto the ASU Polytechnic Campus for all of their home games. The team draws most parents and a few lacrosse fans from the Valley to their games but not nearly as many as they would if the team was able to play in Tempe.
They lost to Grand Canyon University on Thursday, April 11, dropping the team from third to sixth in the latest Men’s Collegiate Lacrosse Association (MCLA) rankings. ASU now stands in second place behind Grand Canyon in the South Division of the Southwestern Lacrosse Conference (SLC).
After beating U of A, the 2013 ASU Lacrosse team is ready to face the playoffs head on. Photo courtesy the MCLASaturday night they were able to pull out a win over UA, dominating the “Laxcats” with a score of 17-7 on senior night for Payson Clark, John Little, Sam Lockett and Zach Scarano.
“Senior day is probably one of the biggest days of the year for us,” head coach Chris Malone said after the game. “You know you want your seniors going out with a bang and we ran some plays for Payson (Clark) and he took advantage of those opportunities. It was great to see Zach, Payson, John and Sam go out with a great win here.”
Clark, a senior from Scottsdale and graduate of Chaparral High School, had five goals that night, including one assist. He currently leads the entire MCLA with 47 goals scored this season, averaging 3.36 goals per game.
Sophomore Kyle Denis added three quick goals of his own and the Sun Devils jumped out to an early 3-0 lead but the Laxcats battled back to a 6-4 halftime score. ASU came out in the third quarter and scored six goals to put the game away.
“You always want to give it to your rival. If there is a game not to lose it’s this one,” Malone said.
Although the opponent is still to be determined the location is not. ASU will have a home game next Saturday at the West Campus most likely against Loyola Marymount.
“I think this should give guys a lot of confident, if there is a time to get confident this is it, I mean now it’s playoff time,” Malone said.
If you have any suggestions as to what you would like to see me write about or cover this semester, have a comment about a recent post or simply want to talk sports, contact me at nkruege1@asu.edu or via Twitter @npkrueger
