ASU Women’s Lacrosse: No. 25 Sun Devils take down No. 22 Stanford for the first time ever

(Photo: Reece Andrews/WCSN)

No. 25 Arizona State defeated the No. 22 Stanford Cardinal on Friday afternoon by a score of 18-11 for the first time in program history. ASU also grabbed its second consecutive win against a ranked opponent after the Sun Devils defeated No. 11 Rutgers in an overtime thriller 13-12 last Sunday.

The Sun Devil offense came out strong, as graduate attackers Emily Glagolev, Carley Adams, and midfielder Taylor Pinzone each scored five goals in ASU’s victory.

“They’re fifth- and sixth-year seniors,” ASU head coach Tim McCormack said. “This is the most experienced team we’ve had and [this] is where that stuff shows. They settled down and were very controlled with their approach.”

“It doesn’t matter who’s scoring and getting the goals in the net,” Pinzone said. “Everyone plays a part, and it was an awesome team win.”

The trio now leads the team in goals with 31, 30 and 28, respectively, double the number of anybody behind them.

It’s not the first time Glagolev has excelled offensively against the defending Pac-12 champions. When Stanford defeated Arizona State 19-11 earlier this year on Mar. 18, Glagolev led the team with five goals and one assist.

Although Stanford was yet another ranked opponent, it did not add pressure on the Sun Devils.

“We don’t really look at the numbers,” freshman goalie Katie Vahle said. “The numbers change every day. We’re just going to do us and play our game.”

ASU had secured 17 ground ball pick-ups in Friday’s game, a point which McCormack and Vahle harped on being key to the team’s success.

“The ground balls are fantastic [because it shows our defense] is able to body people,” Vahle said. “It makes my job so much easier.”

The Sun Devils also prevailed in winning 18 draw controls, three less than Stanford.

Stanford got on the board first with attacker Galen Lew scoring two and a half minutes into the game. Pinzone struck right back a minute later for Arizona State.

From there, it was back and forth throughout the first quarter, highlighted by Adams finding the back of the net with under 30 seconds to go before the buzzer.

“We always battled back,” Adams said. “We don’t really look at the score and just focus on our game.”

ASU’s defensive dominance showed most in the second quarter, where they held Stanford to just one goal.

“Everybody made a read today because we were working so hard and creating a really good advantage on offense, [which meant our defense] was less tired,” Adams said of the team win.

“They move the ball really well [and are] really talented across the board,” McCormack said of Stanford. “Our scout group was phenomenal, without their effort and preparation, it [would not have gone] the same way defensively.”

Stanford turned the ball over 15 times on Friday, while the Sun Devils only had 12.

ASU’s defense struggled at the start of the second half, quickly allowing three goals in just three minutes of play and letting Stanford shrink the lead to three, but regained their momentum and broke the game open in the remainder of the half.

“The energy was through the roof,” Vahle said. “Even though we [had] mistakes here and there, we were able to capitalize on the other team’s mistakes and recover for ours.”

Arizona State is now 6-6 on the season and 4-2 in conference play. Eyeing a top seed in the conference, they sit third in the Pac-12 behind the success of USC (9-2, 5-1) and Stanford (8-6, 6-2). Four games remain on the Sun Devils’ schedule, among them a rematch against Cal on Sunday at 12 pm before heading to the Pacific Northwest to take on Oregon on Apr. 15.