ASU Lacrosse: Emily Glagolev’s passion for the game started early

When it came to making a decision on where to continue her academic and athletic career, it all started with a text message from Emily Glagolev’s older brother, Andrew.

In 2018, the Arizona State Sun Devils were getting ready to start their first year as a Division I program.

“I remember my brother texted me and said ‘ASU is starting a team’ and I remember thinking ‘Wow. ASU that’s pretty far,’” Glagolev said.

The Webster, New York native said that she visited Tempe during January when it was 70 degrees out and sunny compared to the frigid temperatures and snow at home. It definitely helped persuade her final decision.

Glagolev grew up around the sport of lacrosse with an older brother and two older sisters, Katie and Sarah. She started playing competitively in second grade and never looked back.

“I spent most of my summers watching lacrosse and loved the creativity you get to have while playing and it’s just a lot of fun,” she said.

Throughout high school, Glagolev was successful on and off the field, receiving many accolades. She was a three-time captain for her team, while also earning US Lacrosse All-American Honors. In addition, she was named to the First Team for the All Greater Rochester Region and All-County. During her senior campaign, Glagolev had 42 goals and 29 assists.

As she started her freshman year at a school 2,200 miles from home, she geared up for the program’s inaugural season.

“Definitely some nerves,” Glagolev said of her first season. “I think I gained a lot of confidence. It definitely helped me build confidence and we had the class that was here before us and I think that helped a lot too.”

Despite some of the jitters, she proved to be a continuous threat on the field. As a freshman, Glagolev appeared in all 18 games, starting 13 of them. She ended the year with 21 goals and 15 assists.

The attacker even made program history, scoring the game-winning goal in overtime against Cal. It was the program’s first conference win.

Her sophomore year brought even more achievements and awards, being named the Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week, leading the conference in assists and getting selected to the Pac-12 All-Conference Second Team.

In the 17 games she played, she totaled 23 goals and 33 assists. Glagolev attributed her continuous growth to the work she puts in outside of practice. She said her whole team is really hard working and things just come together when they take the field.

Two years in, the Sun Devils got another surprise. They would be getting a new coach after coach Courtney Martinez Connor resigned. Tim McCormack, previously the assistant coach at Northwestern, became the new hire.

Glagolev embraced this new opportunity.

“You get a chance to learn a ton of new things from a different perspective and I think that’s something not a lot of people get in college,” she said. “I’ve learned a lot from different coaches.”

McCormack also sees something special in this junior attacker.

“She’s a great leader,” McCormack said. “She’s a calming presence. She’s a great locker room person, has a lot of friendships and relationships and someone that we can lean on. We felt that immediately. Every coach needs leaders and she fills that tremendously and she does a really nice job for us in that boat.”

Now in her third season with the team, Glagolev is continuing to lead the Sun Devils to success. She has scored in three of the team’s four games and was recently named the Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week for the second time in her career.

“She’s very calm on the field and she’s got tremendous vision and makes others better,” McCormack said. “Her ability to do those things really pulls the group together.”

The Sun Devils (2-2) have their home opener Thursday against Marquette at 12 p.m. MST.

“I think we work to get better everyday and if we continue to do that we will be successful,” Glagolev said.