(Photo: Jacob Franklin/WCSN)
No. 13 Arizona State has one of the youngest defenses in the SLC, but they’ve impressed and delivered.
The Sun Devil defense has been a wall so far this season, so even though they are technically “inexperienced”, they haven’t shown it one bit.
“As a defense, we’re very compatible,” freshman defender Cade Norland said. “Lately our communication has been getting a lot better, we’ve been very aggressive, and I just think we hit [hard].”
Head Coach Todd MacRobbie has not been afraid of giving the young players time on the field. MacRobbie has played 11 different underclassmen (freshman or sophomore) defenders and goalies this season.
“We don’t recruit kids that can’t play,” MacRobbie said. “If we’re recruiting you and you’re here to play, we’re going to play you – your age doesn’t matter.”
Let’s compare that to the four other teams in the SLC South: Grand Canyon University, Arizona, UNLV, and San Diego State.
They have all played either four or less underclassmen defenders and goalies each this year.
Junior defender Nathan Blair is the only non-underclassmen on Arizona State’s defense. He believes there is plenty of room for improvement.
“Every game I think we do a little bit better,” Blair said. “Playing up to game speed is still something we’re getting used to – we still come out a little slow. Playing together is what we’ve really been working on.”
Led by Blair, ASU has been dominant on the defensive end – averaging 7.2 goals against per game.
How does that stack up against the rest of the SLC South?
The other four teams average a combined 9.7 goals against per game with no individual team surpassing ASU’s 7.2 mark.
Goals Against Averaged This Season:
ASU: 7.2
U of A: 8.4
GCU: 8.5
UNLV: 11
SDS: 11
But it all starts with the anchor between the pipes, sophomore goalie Johnny Perlite.
“Johnny, our goalie, has been helping us out a lot,” Blair said. “He makes us look a lot better than we have been doing.”
Perlite has been a beast this season, leading the SLC South in saves per game with about 15 and save percentage with about 69%.
The Sun Devil defense’s next test will be against BYU on Saturday, March 4th at 7:00pm (MST) at the ASU West Campus.
If you want to reach Eliav, you can email him at egabay@asu.edu or contact him on Twitter @eliavgabay.
