(Photo: Jacob Franklin/WCSN)
Arizona State men’s club lacrosse will continue its home stretch this weekend as they welcome in No. 4 Brigham Young on Saturday, Mar. 4, and No. 21 Virginia on Monday, Mar. 6.
The Sun Devils had back-to-back home games last weekend dropping the first, 8-9, against No. 6 Colorado State, falling just short after a crazy fourth quarter comeback. Two days later, the team then topped previously No. 2 Colorado 11-7 in a very strong outing from the Sun Devils offense and defense.
Another top ten team makes its way down to the desert this weekend. The No. 4 Brigham Young Cougars will take on the No. 13-ranked Sun Devils under the lights.
The Cougars are a part of the Rocky Mountain Lacrosse Conference and are 3-1 this season with wins over Arizona, Boise State and Cal Poly.
BYU head coach Matt Schneck is in his eighth season with the Cougars. In his tenure, Schneck has a 111-34 overall record.
BYU and ASU have a lot of lacrosse history together. The teams have played six times since the MCLA was founded in 2005; the Cougars are 5-1 in the series.
Head coach Todd MacRobbie hopes his team doesn’t take this statistic lightly.
“I think that these guys need to take it real personal and come out with a personal motivation of beating someone who has beat you almost every time,” MacRobbie said.
The last national championship win for Brigham Young was when it knocked off the Sun Devils, 10-8, in the 2011 National Tournament. Brigham Young men’s club lacrosse has four total championships in program history.
The No. 21 Virginia Tech Hokies will not be an easy task for the Sun Devils either.
Virginia Tech is in the Southeastern Lacrosse Conference. The team has four conference championships since 2005.
The last time the Sun Devils and Hokies played was in 2015 when Virginia Tech pulled off a 10-9 win over Arizona State in the 2nd Round of the 2015 MCLA National Tournament. The Hokies moved on to the Final Four and fell short of making it to the championship game.
VT has an explosive offensive start to the season. The Hokies are averaging over 12 goals a game through four games played.
Junior midfielder Danny Riley is the leader of the offense. He holds team-highs in goals, 16, and points, 21, along with six ground balls and five assists.
Bryan Cooper has been the go-to man in the net for Virginia Tech. The senior goalie has a .653 save percentage through the Hokies’ four games so far.
Arizona State will keep the same game plan with no special changes heading into this week’s games.
“We’re just going to play and hopefully they (the players) will actually play for a full 60 minutes instead of 15-20 minutes here and there,” MacRobbie said.
A new offensive leader emerged last weekend for the Sun Devils. Tommy Carrasco scored four goals in the win over Colorado.
Carrasco has 10 goals and four assists for a total of 14 points on the season. He believes the offensive success will carry over into the weekend for both himself and his team.
“There was definitely a different type of feel on Saturday that we haven’t really had before and I think everyone really enjoyed it so it will carry over hopefully,” Carrasco said.
Arizona State hosts BYU on Saturday and faces off against Virginia Tech on Monday. Both games begin at 7 p.m. MST and will be streamed live on the Cronkite Sports YouTube channel.
