ASU Lacrosse: Sun Devils open Pac-12 play with a win

The Arizona State Sun Devils (5-2, 1-0 Pac-12) kicked off Pac-12 play with a 17-15 victory over the California Golden Bears (2-3, 0-1 Pac-12) Friday afternoon. It was the first time in program history the Sun Devils opened conference play with a win.

It was another dominant day offensively for the Sun Devils with senior attacker Carley Adams and senior attacker Kerri Clayton getting the team on the board with the first two points. The Sun Devils would maintain the lead for the rest of the game.

Clayton was recently named Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week and continues to be a powerful force for the Sun Devils. She ended the day with five goals and has recorded a hat trick in every game so far this season, with 25 total goals.

Adams also added in a hat trick and has 13 goals in the past four games. It was her fourth hat trick of the season.

The Golden Bears pulled within one in the second half, but the Sun Devils were able to come up with stops and keep their lead to secure a victory. A key component was junior goalkeeper Berkley Bonneau, Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week. She had 13 saves, many coming late in the contest.

Despite showing success offensively and defensively, the Sun Devils continued to struggle when it came to fouls. They had 35 fouls in the game, 14 of them being free-position shots. In the last five minutes of the game, the Golden Bears had two man-up opportunities and capitalized on both of them to keep themselves in the game.

ASU will look to extend their three-game win streak as they host the Stanford Cardinal on Sunday at 1 p.m. MST.