ASU Women’s Lacrosse: Sun Devils suffer first home loss to Colorado

(Photo via Xavier Litman/WCSN)

Searching for consecutive wins for the first time this season, ASU Women’s Lacrosse welcomed Colorado to Tempe for a Sunday afternoon battle.

Arizona State (2-6, 1-2) gained momentum in the second half thanks to graduate midfielder Kaylon Buckner’s career-high six goals, but it wasn’t enough, as the Sun Devils couldn’t recover from a scoreless first quarter in a 17-13 loss to the Buffaloes (4-5, 3-1).

The defense for the Buffaloes was stout in the first quarter, only allowing the Sun Devils two shots on goal, with neither hitting the back of the net. Conversely, ASU sophomore goalkeeper Katie Vahle allowed four goals with only one save in the first 15 minutes.

ASU was able to cut the deficit in half to start the second quarter, but Colorado scored four unanswered goals to close out the first half. Reflecting on the first quarter, Buckner talked about what ASU needs to do in the future to avoid slow starts.

“I think that is something we need to work on,” Buckner said. “Just coming out with that fire and heart at the beginning of the game to take it through the whole 60 minutes. Games like this will happen. I think the team just came together at halftime and brought it all together.”

Buckner had a season-high four goals against the Oregon Ducks on Friday in ASU’s most recent outing. Sunday, she followed up that performance with an even better one. The midfielder scored five goals in the second half with her sixth goal of the game cutting the Sun Devils’ deficit to two goals, the lowest it had been since the second quarter.

Buckner scored nearly half of ASU’s goals, and she was the catalyst for ASU’s momentum in the second half. ASU head coach Taryn VanThof talked about how crucial Buckner’s scoring is for the team.

“Buckner has stepped up as a leader for us on the field emotionally and with her presence,” VanThof said. “You can see that in her scoring. She instills that confidence in you being around her and that in turn gives her confidence to put the ball in the back of the net.”

A beneficiary of Buckner’s presence was graduate attacker Katie Brodsky who recorded four points – all in the second half – coming off the bench. Brodsky had missed four games and has not started since ASU played Penn State on Feb. 24. Nonetheless, she has multiple points in three of the four games she’s played this season.

Along with Brodsky, sophomore midfielder Bella Ingrao also scored two goals. Ingrao has improved recently, scoring multiple points in four of her last five games. With help from Brodsky and Ingrao, Buckner talked about how the team bounced back in the second half.

“I’m just super proud of the team today,” Buckner said. “We had a really good team offense out there. I think we are capitalizing on the key moments and celebrating the good things while keeping our momentum high.”

While Buckner was the only Sun Devil with more than two goals, the Buffaloes had four players who scored at least three, combining for 16 of their 17 goals. All four players also had four points or more in the game, with sixth-year attacker Sam McGee leading the charge for Colorado with six goals.

Colorado’s scoring explosion led to a season-low six saves for Vahle. This was Vahle’s first game of the season in which she only recorded single-digit saves. VanThof talked about how the lack of offense in the first half affected Vahle and the defense.

“It was a first-half effort,” VanThof said. “If we put some more in the back of the net offensively, it helps our defense in waves to give us momentum. I think we had momentum in the second half, but it wasn’t enough.”

The Sun Devils finished 1-1 in this weekend’s home series. ASU will look to get back in the win column when it travels to the Bay Area to take on Stanford and Cal. Buckner talked about how the team looks to move forward following the home loss.

“We all have that heart, and we all know that,” Buckner said. “Coming out on Tuesday and showing that at practice throughout the week (is important) so that we can hit Stanford hard.”