After losing to rival Chapman last Friday, the Arizona State lacrosse team needed a bounce-back performance against the Richmond Spiders on Sunday.
Fortunately for the Sun Devils, captain Payson Clark provided the spark his team needed as he delivered a game-high five goals in a 12-5 victory.
The senior attackman helped Arizona State race out to a 7-2 halftime lead by scoring four times in the first half, including three goals in a row in the second quarter. His offensive output impressed head coach Chris Malone, who was hoping to get his team back in rhythm.
“Payson’s doing great. When we do well offensively, it’s because he usually gets the goals,” Coach Malone said.
Clark was the storyline throughout the first half, but his teammates also lifted the Sun Devils in that stretch.
Though Spiders’ senior Jack Hayden opened the scoring with a first quarter goal, the Sun Devils charged right back as freshman defenseman Nicholas McEneany answered with his first career goal just moments later.
Clark scored from the left of the cage to give Arizona State a 2-1 advantage, and junior midfielder Logan Quinn followed that up with a goal of his own.
“Our goal was to keep our communication up and keep a lot of energy and it seemed to work pretty well against their defense,” Clark said.
The second quarter belonged to Clark who scored three straight goals to give Arizona State a 6-1 advantage, but Spiders’ sophomore Nate Volpert cut the deficit to four when he scored late in the quarter.
With just five seconds left in the half, sophomore attackman Dan Davis made a last-ditch effort to give the Sun Devils a larger lead heading into the break.
Davis took a pass behind the cage, spun past his defender, and sprinted in front of the net before firing a shot past Richmond goalie Danny Driscoll to give Arizona State a 7-2 lead.
The Sun Devils controlled the pace of the game and dictated the tempo throughout the afternoon and Coach Malone utilized a larger portion of his roster than he usually does against Richmond.
Freshman Jackson Brown was the beneficiary of Malone’s decision as his first career goal energized his teammates early in the fourth quarter.
Brown’s goal gave the Sun Devils an 11-3 lead, but the Spiders didn’t go down without a fight.
Richmond snuck two goals past Sun Devil goalie Preston Anderson in the closing minutes of the game, but that didn’t stop Coach Malone from praising the freshman’s play after Sunday’s win.
“Preston did what we think he can do,” Malone said. “Before those last two went in, he had about seven saves and just three goals against so I thought he did really well.”
Ultimately, the Sun Devils emerged from Sunday’s game with the satisfaction that they have their season back on track after the devastating defeat last week.
Arizona State saw its offense stall against the Chapman Panthers, but Clark and company rebounded nicely in the 12-goal outing against Richmond.
“It was pretty much our main focus during practice this week to really to get our offense going and get our confidence back after that loss,” Clark said.
The Sun Devils return to action on Thursday night with a home matchup against the Minnesota Golden Gophers at 7 p.m. PT on the Polytechnic campus.
