The ASU lacrosse team (6-7, 1-5 Pac-12) was shellacked by the No.16 Stanford Cardinal (8-3, 5-1 Pac-12) on Friday night in Tempe, 20-8. This was the Sun Devils' second loss against the Cardinal in seven days.
“We had a lot of players who were able to get some of their first opportunity on the field tonight and we were super proud of efforts by players,” ASU head coach Courtney Martinez Connor said. “I think overall there is certainly a lot of things to work on.”
Stanford senior midfielder Maggie Nick scored the games first two goals, and from there the Cardinal would open up on an 8-0 run.
Despite trailing behind early on, ASU eventually hit a stride of its own.
In the middle of the first half, ASU went on a 3-0 run with goals from freshman midfielder Emily Glagolev, attacker Katie Dougherty, and Julia Burns. Burns and Glagolev would both finish with one goal and one assist each.
Seven of ASU's eight goals were scored by freshmen.
“I think that shows that we can be fearless when needed, certainly need to show consistency which is tough for a young team, but there are certainly bright spots," Martinez Connor said.
Dougherty found the back of the net two more times in the second half for her first career hat trick.
Freshman defender Maria Villanti also pitched in with two goals.
“My teammates opened a lot of space for me to drive and score so I attribute it to them,” Villanti said. “We need to play smarter with the ball and make the easy passes, and then smarter plays rather than the big play.”
“It was a team effort,” Dougherty said. “I still feel like we’re getting better every game.”
The Cardinal showed depth with 11 different goal scorers and continued to drive the ball in the net through the second half.
Stanford freshman attacker Ali Baiocco showed a very balanced attack passing and shooting with two goals and three assists. Junior midfielder Areta Buness, senior midfielder Dillon Schoen, and freshman attacker Galen Lew all came up shy of a hat trick with two goals each for the Cardinal.
Kelsey Murray, Stanford graduate student attacker, also scored four goals to bring her season total up to 30.
The Cardinal displayed great ball movement in transition that wore down the Sun Devil defense as the game progressed. Stanford had no problem clearing the ball from end to end, going 15-15 while ASU went 15-23.
Stanford closed out the second half on a 6-3 run, always answering back when ASU would cut into their lead.
One week ago the Sun Devils picked up their first Pac-12 win in program history with a 12-11 overtime victory against the California Golden Bears. The Sun Devils hope to pick up another win over the Golden Bears on Sunday, April 1, at 12:00 pm MST at Sun Devil Soccer Stadium.
Reach the reporter at nsheehy@asu.edu or follow @nsheehy_nick on Twitter.
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