Arizona State women's lacrosse (2-1) suffered its first loss of the season in a 14-13 nail-biter to the San Diego State Aztecs (2-0).
The Sun Devils had a very productive day offensively, showing versatility with seven different goal scorers.
Junior attack Kerri Clayton had another impressive day with four goals. In three games, Clayton has found the back of the net 16 times.
ASU freshman midfielder Emily Glagolev showed a balanced attack shooting and passing. She contributed two goals and two assists.
Clayton got the Sun Devils on the board first, rolling right and ripping a shot that would find the corner of the goal.
The Sun Devils have scored first in every game they have played so far.
San Diego State junior midfielder Jill Haight scored a free position goal to tie the game with 27:48 left in the first half.
Free position is given to a shooter when they are fouled and all defenders must stand four meters away for shooting space.
Both teams went back and forth, scoring frequently in the first half. San Diego State closed out the first half on a 2-0 run take a 6-5 lead.
The second half continued to be high scoring, and the Aztecs started to gain separation at the 15:00 mark, when junior midfielder Harlowe Steele scored for an 11-9 lead in the second half.
All the momentum was in favor of the Aztecs when they won the next draw control to take the largest lead of the game (12-9) from a free position goal from junior midfielder Natalie Peel with 11:42 left in the game.
The Sun Devils then came clawing back on a 4-0 run that was capped off by freshman attacker Graci Fulkerson wrapping around the net and scoring. The Sun Devils took a 13-12 lead with 4:08 remaining.
Fulkerson, beyond scoring the last two goals for the Sun Devils, notched her second career hat trick.
In crunch time, San Diego State's junior midfielders made plays.
With 3:26 left in the game, Steele dodged toward the crease and ripped a shot to tie the game at 13. Steele had a big day of shooting, scoring five goals.
San Diego State won the ensuing draw control to eat more time off the clock. The Sun Devils committed a foul to set up a free position goal from Peel. ASU gave up four free position goals, including the game winner from Peel with 2:22 seconds left.
With the score at 14-13, the Sun Devil defense managed to stop the Aztecs and regain possession with less than two minutes left. On the attempted clear to move the ball into the offensive zone for possession, the Sun Devils turned the ball over at the end line.
The Aztecs ran out the clock.
San Diego State junior goalkeeper Katy Sharretts recorded nine saves for the Aztecs.
This loss marks the first defeat in ASU women’s lacrosse program history.
Up next, the Sun Devils will travel to the New York next weekend to face Manhattan College on Saturday, Feb. 24 and Columbia on Monday, Feb. 26.
Reach the reporter at nsheehy@asu.edu or follow @nsheehy_nick on Twitter.
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