(Photo: Zina Garcia/ WCSN)
TEMPE— Arizona State women’s lacrosse (10-6, 3-1 Big 12) soared to another record breaking victory over the San Diego State University Aztecs Saturday afternoon with a final score of 23-12.
This victory marks a season high of 23 goals for the Sun Devils.
Not only did this triumph mark the third Big 12 win in program history, the Sun Devils were also celebrating their seniors one last time in Tempe.
The Inferno was ready for one last rendezvous at home, as it was a crowded house to celebrate the ten seniors that make up this Sun Devil team.
“This senior group has brought in so much to our culture, our offensive sets, our defensive sets, and they are reaping the benefits of a ton of hard work,” Head coach Taryn VanThof Puls said.
ASU struck fast, with junior attacker Teagan Ng opening up the scoring with her 60th goal of the season only adding on to her historic third-year campaign as she holds the Sun Devils single-season goal record.
Aside from the seniors, it’s the junior attacking trio of Ng along with Lydia Oldknow and Jordyn Behar that is constantly firing through opponents defenses.
Ng ended the game with a total of six points. Adding on four more goals and an assist to the scoresheet. Ng currently sits first on the team in goals as she has 64 goals on the season ahead of ASU’s final matchup on the season.
Oldknow had herself a game as she set a career high of points in a game this afternoon, with eight on the contest against SDSU. Evenly split, Oldknow added four goals and four assists to her season stats. Behar also had a five-point game scoring a goal on her only shot on net and four assists.
Even though approximately a third of this roster is made up of seniors, co-captains senior attacker Anna Thornton and senior defender Berit Brookfield were the standout Devils of the day.
Thornton tied her career high in goals for the third time in her career after four of her six shots on goal hit the back of the net. Thornton also added an assist to her eason bringing her to a total of five points on the day and 29 points on the season.
While Thornton has spent her whole collegiate career as an attacker, the 2025 season is Brookfield’s first season as a defender.
Brookfield’s junior season was cut short due to injury. After playing her freshmen, sophomore and junior seasons as a midfielder, Brookfield had to not only navigate coming back from an injury but coming back from an injury in an entirely new position.
“It took some perseverance, it’s always hard getting injured and having too kind of pull yourself out of that and get back to where you were previously,” Brookfield said, “but I am super grateful to be on the defensive end, I think that’s where the team needs me and I want what’s best for the team.”
As a defender, Brookfield was able to get the ball in the back of the net twice, one on a breakaway, with two shots on goal marking her third and fourth goals of the 2025 season.
“We got Berit Brookfield on senior day as a defender coming down, scoring two goals. It was great to see,” VanThof Puls said.
While the co-captain have made their mark on the field, their leadership goes beyond the pitch, but for the organization as a whole.
“I think [Brookfield and Thorton are] two of the best [people] that you could ask for in terms of representatives of Sun Devil lacrosse and just Sun Devil athletics as a whole,” VanThof Puls said, “they do what they say and they mean what they do, and I think that showed in a lot of their performance today.”
Arizona State has one last game of the regular season against the on-fire Florida Gators (14-2, 4-0 Big 12). While this is not a very familiar opponent for the Sun Devils, as they have only faced the Gators three times since 2022, VanThof Puls is all too familiar with the Gators, as she was their assistant coach for six years before coming to Tempe.
When asked about what needs to be focused on, VanThof Puls emphasized putting in full effort at practice.
“We talk a lot about iron sharpens iron, so everyday at practice really giving us the best look back and forth,” VanThof Puls said.
