(Photo: Nicholas Badders/WCSN)
It only took Kerri Clayton 30 seconds to continue her dominance from last season, opening the first game of the season with a quick goal off the draw.
The ASU Sun Devil women’s lacrosse team would continue to pour on the goals for the next 60 minutes as they kicked off its third season in program history with a 16-12 win at UC Davis.
Clayton finished the game with four goals and two assists, making a true statement to start her final year with the team.
New head coach Tim McCormack recorded his first career victory while coaching the team to an impressive showing highlighted by a speedy offense that was able to quickly distribute the ball to find open looks on the goal.
Emily Glagolev and Carley Adams also joined in on the fun, with both players recording a hat trick. Glagolev, the PAC-12 leader in assists last year, would add two more to start off the new season.
Freshman Anna Winkeler had an impressive showing, netting her first 2 career goals while weaving between defenders.
Maura Cissel displayed her quickness in the center circle, winning several draws that would lead to Sun Devil goals.
When the ball was on the Aggies’ half of the field, ASU defender Lia Willis wasn’t afraid to play physically, winning 8 ground balls and demonstrating her speed on multiple clears.
The Sun Devils did show some struggles on the field, most significantly with their discipline. The team committed 20 fouls compared to five from the opposition. The Aggies scored six goals off free position shots and had 13 chances inside the arc. This could have been more severe if it wasn’t for the focused goaltending of Berkeley Bonneau, who stuffed 3 shots coming from free position.
ASU would have to work much harder for its opportunities, getting only two shots off from free position, neither of which resulted in a goal. Instead, they relied on quick ball movement and physicality to get close to the crease and get shots off.
The team was outshot by the Aggies 26-25 but had much better looks on the goal, with 20 of their shots being on target. Their shot percentage of 64 percent was almost double that of last season’s average, which could be one welcome sign of change in the fresh McCormack era.
The Clayton-Glagolev connection took full effect in the second period as the two found each other in a clean transition to help put the game out of reach and force a goalie substitution from the Aggies.
The Sun Devils improve to 3-0 in season openers in program history. They will look to continue their momentum from this hot start as they travel to play Detriot Mercy next Friday.
