(Photo: Jacob Franklin/WCSN)
No. 13 Arizona State men’s club lacrosse team hosted No. 4 BYU in a high stakes midseason ranked match up that ended in a 9-6 win for the Cougars.
BYU came out of the gates firing, with three goals in the first six minutes. Sophomore attack Chris Severson had the first strike for the Cougars, followed by back to back goals by fellow sophomore, Harry Waddoups.
ASU’s Emerson Roth ended the goal streak with one of his own towards the end of the first quarter, making the first quarter score 3-1 BYU.
Sophomore midfielder Conner Bernal got in on the scoring act for BYU in the second quarter, as he came out quickly with a goal to extend BYU’s lead to three.
Sun Devil sophomore attackman Patrick Haviland responded with a shot that was nearly impossible to save into the upper corner of the net to cut down BYU’s lead.
However, Bernal made sure to extend the lead again, as he scored with less than 10 seconds in the half to make it a 5-2 halftime score in BYU’s favor.
ASU again tried to cut down BYU’s lead when sophomore attack Jake Marthens scored to make it a 5-3 game. However, BYU again responded quickly as Winston Farley put one in for the Cougars in the final minutes of the quarter.
Both teams came out ready to score in the fourth. Tommy Carrasco and Ben Parietti started out the scoring with a goal apiece to bring ASU within one.
BYU continued to halt ASU’s attempted runs of offense, as Michael Perry tacked on two straight goals, making it an 8-5 game in BYU’s favor.
Parietti was able to get one more goal for ASU, but BYU’s Max Ash provided the dagger that made it a 9-6 game, which would go on to be the final score.
BYU did an excellent job at stopping any sort of momentum that ASU was able to conjure up all game. The Cougars maintained the lead for the entire game due to their great awareness of the flow of the game. They made sure they were in control the whole time and it translated to a win.
For ASU, they were not able to create enough chances offensively to make a consistent string of goals to take the lead over BYU. This allowed BYU to control the game from beginning to end.
“We didn’t come to play,” said Coach Todd MacRobbie, simply. “The whole game. Just didn’t come to play.”
Looking down the road, ASU has a game against Virginia Tech on Monday and then goes on the road against Utah Valley and Utah later in the week.
When asked if they’re looking to change anything, MacRobbie’s answer was simple. “We’re not looking to change anything. [The players] just got to start doing what they’re told.”
