(Photo: Jodi Vosika/ASU Lacrosse)
Oh how the mighty have fallen. Santa Barbara was riding high headed into 2015 after coming off of a final four appearance in last years NCAA tournament. The team won five games in arguably the MCLA’s strongest conference, the SLC.
Through UCSB’s first four games in 2014, the team didn’t lose a game. The Gauchos outscored opponents 55-19 and even defeated WCLL powerhouse Cal Poly 6-5.
This year is a completely different story. UCSB has stumbled out of the gate, dropping their last three games and their only win came against a middling USC team.
Through their first four games in 2015, the Gaucho’s have been outscored by opponents 20-33.
It was a rough weekend for head coach Mike Allan and his team. UCSB fell to Stanford on Saturday 8-5 and then dropped their third straight against Cal 10-8 on Sunday. Both squads are teams that ASU has already beaten this season with a combined score of 31-10.
On the other end of the spectrum, ASU has looked like the same team that won 19 games last season. They opened up the Joe Thon era with a blow out victory over California 14-6. The next day they faced the Stanford Cardinals and proved that their offense wasn’t a joke, winning 17-4.
Player of the year candidate Dan Davis has come out of the gate rolling. He has seven goals in his first two games to go along with an assist.
Sophomore attackman Rhett Rodgers has started the season hot as well, tallying four goals and three assists on the campaign.
ASU last met UCSB on May 2 of last season in the second round of the SLC Tournament. The Gauchos got out to a fast start, leading 4-1 at halftime.
“We got out to a slow start last year,” Davis said . “They threw a zone at us and we didn’t respond to well.”
The Sun Devils would adjust in the second half and went on to outscore Santa Barbara 7-2 over the final two quarters.
Davis scored three goals and had an assist while face-off specialist Zack Handy won 13 of his 14 attempts in the face-off X.
ASU won the game 8-6 to advanced to the SLC Championship game.
UCSB last beat the Sun Devils on April 22nd 2007 with a score of 12-7.
Arizona State leads the all-time series between the two teams 11-2.
Expect to see the Sun Devils more prepared to handle any zone that UCSB throws at them.
“All week we’ve just been preparing against the zone D,” freshman Sage Devault said. “We’re doing a lot of film sessions to make sure that we can definitely beat it.”
The opening face-off will be at 1:00 pm on Saturday in Santa Barbara, California.
