ASU Women’s Lacrosse: Sun Devils can’t complete comeback against Cal, suffer winless home weekend

(Photo: Nicholas Badders/WCSN)

From close range, Kate Dougherty spun and whipped a shot from over her head into the back of the cage late in the second half on Sunday afternoon.

But before Arizona State’s freshman attacker could celebrate her sixth goal of the day — a score that would have cut the Sun Devils once eight-goal deficit against Cal to just three with still over six minutes remaining — the midfield referee came sprinting in from behind to administer a yellow card on Dougherty, negating her goal and delivering a final and fatal blow to ASU’s comeback bid in an eventual 17-13 loss to the Golden Bears.

Dougherty was punished for unleashing a “dangerous shot”, her stick’s high followthrough deemed to have endangered a Cal defender. It was the fourth card assessed to the Sun Devils on Easter Sunday and led to a Cal goal from Kirsten Swanson on the ensuing possession, helping the Bears survive a second-half Sun Devils rally.

“Our girls battled to the very end despite a lot of things not going our way,” coach Courtney Martinez Connor said. “I’m proud of that as a coach. We had a lot of players stepping in and working hard and taking over when we needed them to.”

It was the Sun Devils sixth loss in Pac-12 play and dropped their inaugural season record to 6-8 (1-6 in the Pac-12) but was the first time the debuting program had clawed out of an early hole to mount a legitimate comeback against a conference foe.

“We haven’t really come back in any Pac-12 game except for this one,” Dougherty said. “If we would have played like we did in the second half [for the full game] it probably would have been closer.”

Down 10-2 at halftime, Dougherty helped fuel ASU’s comeback. She scored a career-high five goals in her first career start.

“We kept pushing,” Dougherty said. “We stayed positive and we kept on getting the ball.”

Freshman midfielder Kylie Kroeger also set a new career high in goals, scoring four times while also controlling six draws. Freshman midfielder Erin Dibernardo took over in the draw circle, controlling 11 draws of her own and helping ASU win 21 of the 32 draws on Sunday, including 15 of 19 in the second half.

“We try different things in practice so we were able to adjust,” Kroeger said.

ASU’s leading scorer, Kerri Clayton, only tallied one goal on Sunday but helped facilitate the Sun Devils offense during an 8-3 run to begin the second half. The junior attacker’s day ended in early — and controversial — fashion though.

With 15:50 to play, Clayton was whistled for a foul after making a seemingly innocuous check in the midfield, trying to win possession back for the Sun Devils. The referee produced a red card, however, ejecting Clayton from the game and giving Cal a man-advantage.

The ASU co-captain was in disbelief, hands on head as she exited the field in frustration. The Golden Bears scored barely a minute later.

“We always say, ‘Keep going. Flush it and get ready for the next [after a questionable officiating decision],'” Martinez Connor said. “That’s my job to be battling, to make sure that things are called evenly on both ends.”

The Sun Devils would answer with goals from Dougherty and Kroeger to stay within striking distance before Dougherty was penalized for her dangerous shot 6:22 to play. It was Dougherty’s second yellow card of the day (both for dangerous shots) and ASU’s fourth card as a team (Riley Purcell was also issued a green card in the second half).

“I was pretty mad,” Dougherty admitted.

The tough second-half officiating breaks were compounded by the Sun Devils’ self-inflicted first-half damage, letting Cal jump ahead early. Slow starts have been a season-long issue for ASU in Pac-12 play.

“We need to make sure we are coming out for the full 60 minutes and not getting ourselves steps behind,” Martinez Connor said. “As we always say, you have to play against two teams [when you start slow].”

Cal (5-8, 1-6 Pac-12) attackers Swanson and Parker Garrett each scored four goals to help the Golden Bears avenge ASU’s overtime win in Berkeley last week.

Martinez Connor still saw progress from her young team on Sunday though, especially after watching the Sun Devils near-comeback despite Clayton’s early ejection and freshman midfielder Madi Hunter’s absence (Hunter will miss the remained of the season after suffering an injury last week).

“We were fired up for our teammates having gotten knocked out of the game,” Martinez Connor said. “I couldn’t be more proud of the overall effort of the second half. We just need to put it for a full 60 (minutes) now.”

FRIDAY NIGHT RECAP: No. 16 Stanford 20, ASU 8

The Sun Devils were bitten by a slow start on Friday night too against Stanford. The Cardinal scored the game’s first eight goals en route to an easy 20-8 win over ASU.

Dougherty led the Sun Devils’ offense on Friday with a three-goal hat trick while Maria Villanti tacked two scores of her own. Goalkeeper Berkeley Bonneau played almost the entirety of the game for ASU, getting peppered with 30 shots. She made 11 saves.

“We had a lot of players who were able to get some of their first opportunities on the field tonight,” Martinez Connor said in a release. “We were super proud of efforts by players who produced even though it was their first time out. I think, overall, there is certainly a lot of things to work on, but we were certainly impressed with players who stepped up tonight.”