ASU Lacrosse: Sun Devils score big in season opener

Arizona State (1-0) kicked off the 2020 season Saturday afternoon with a 16-12 win against UC Davis (0-1). It was head coach Tim McCormack’s first game with his new team.

“It is nice to get the first one, but we are going to get right back to work,” said McCormack. “We will savor it for the rest of this day, but it is over tomorrow and time to move forward and have our eyes set on the next one out in Detroit. We will work on focusing on one day at a time, as we have since the first day we got together in August.”

The Sun Devils put the first points on the board 30 seconds in with a goal from redshirt senior attacker Kerri Clayton. Just one minute later, junior attacker Emma Carlson put another in the back of the net.

UC Davis was able to even things up at 3, but the Sun Devils answered, scoring four consecutive goals to give them back the lead. They maintained that for the rest of the game.

The Sun Devil defense held the Aggies scoreless for the final six minutes of the first half and went into halftime with an 8-5 lead.

The second half was back-and-forth, with the Aggies attempting to take back control from the Sun Devils, but a strong defense and persistent offense put a stop to that.

Clayton scored early in the second half, giving her a hat trick and she would add another goal nine minutes later.

Senior attacker Carley Adams put the Sun Devils up five, giving them their largest lead. Adams was the third ASU player to have a hat trick, along with Clayton and junior attacker Emily Glagolev.

UC Davis ended the game with 24 turnovers, eight of which came from the Sun Devils’ pressure defense. However, ASU did show its own struggles with 20 fouls compared to five from UC Davis. Six of the Aggies’ points came from free position shots.

The Sun Devils continue their four-game road trip next Friday at Detroit Mercy at 11 a.m. MST.