No. 25 Arizona State (7-6, 5-2) defeated the California Golden Bears (1-14, 1-8) on Sunday afternoon 18-10, completing the season sweep against its Pac-12 foe for the sixth straight win against the Bears and the longest winning streak against a single team in program history.
A program that was 1-4 against the Bears in its first two seasons is now undefeated against them since Tim McCormack was hired as head coach in the summer of 2019.
“We don’t put too much emphasis or focus on who we’re playing, but at the end of the day, it’s always good to battle and play tough and we were able to do that for 60 minutes today,” McCormack said.
After scoring five goals against No. 22 Stanford on Friday, graduate attacker Emily Glagolev stayed hot in Sunday’s game, scoring four goals, totaling nine for the weekend, good enough for the team lead with 35.
Three of Glagolev’s goals came within the first 10 minutes of play and contributed to ASU’s early 6-1 lead at the end of the first quarter.
Graduate attacker Carley Adams continued to excel offensively, reaching a season-high five assists. This has varied from the Sun Devils’ previous tendencies this season, when Adams has been the team’s leading goal scorer.
“She’s got it in her, and we’ve seen that,” McCormack said. “It doesn’t always come out on the stat sheets but we see it on a Monday or Wednesday morning for sure.”
“We get a ton of reps in practice, so when we go to the games, it’s a lot of the same things we do every day, and I think that translates really well,” Glagolev said of her paired success with Adams.
Arizona State continued to break the game open in the second quarter, leading 12-4 at halftime.
Glagolev, Adams, and other team veterans’ continued success on the field was not the only highlight of the day for the Sun Devils. Sunday’s game displayed ASU’s depth from their bench, including junior midfielder Zoe Mazur’s first two goals of her career.
“It [felt] good and my family was here, which was nice,” Mazur said. “It was awkward when I scored honestly [because] I didn’t really know what to do, but it was fun scoring another one.”
“Every player matters and we truly mean it,” McCormack said. “So, to get everybody a chance to get out there and put themselves in a position to make plays and feel that feeling is awesome.”
As a team, the Devils remained successful in draw controls, securing 19, and picking up 17 ground balls to Cal’s 13 and 14, respectively.
However, the Golden Bears committed fewer turnovers with 13, compared with Arizona State’s 17. Cal was also more effective in free-position shots, netting three of six attempts.
ASU defeated Cal 21-18 earlier this season on Mar. 20, where Adams led with five goals and Glagolev had three.
Their win on Sunday comes after first-time back-to-back wins against ranked opponents in No. 11 Rutgers and No. 22 Stanford, and also the first time the Sun Devils have defeated the Cardinal in program history.
“I’ve been here for quite a while and we’ve never done it, so finally being able to get the job done was definitely a testament to all our hard work over the years,” senior attacker Katie Brodsky said. “After that game at Rutgers, we realized how much we have to believe in ourselves and that really was the next step. And we got the job done by getting the win.”
The Sun Devils have a tough road trip ahead as they travel to the Pacific Northwest to play the Oregon Ducks on Friday at 6 p.m. and Colorado on Sunday at 12 p.m. They will wrap up their season at home against USC on Apr. 22 at 3 p.m. before preparing to host the Pac-12 Tournament during the first week of May.
“We just [have to] keep taking it one day at a time,” McCormack said, “keep competing every single opportunity we have on the field, staying healthy both physically and mentally, and making sure that we’re taking the necessary rest we’re going to need as we get down the stretch.”
