No. 1 ASU hosts No. 9 SSU in gritty defensive match-up

(Photo: Jodi Vosika/ASU Lacrosse)

No. 1 Arizona State (7-0) is home for just the second time all year, and they’ll be facing off against the No. 9 Sonoma State Seawolves (6-1).

For ASU, the team couldn’t be riding with any more momentum. After earning the top spot in the polls two weeks ago, they took a trip through the rockiest and toughest places to play in the entire MCLA, coming up with a sweep of No. 3 Colorado State and No. 2 Colorado.

It’s been a defensively dominant year for the Sun Devils, allowing a phenomenal 5.43 goals allowed per game. Goalie Chris DeLuca has been strong in net, but the play of Ian Connell, Nicholas McEneany, and Matt Wallace has been unmatched throughout the country. And now that the team has played against two of the top three teams in the country, the unproven argument falls through as well.

In the first leg of a three-game home-stand, ASU will look to stop the Seawolves and their top-heavy offense.

Sonoma State’s offense relies on the play of four players to get things going. Sophomores Brad Bochesa, Michael Tomita, Wesley Koenig, and junior Connor Kuehnle are all sitting on point totals of over 16 on the season. Beyond them, though, there’s not much firepower to SSU.

Bochesa has been a distributing machine in 2014 as he leads the MCLA with 24 assists. The Foothill, CA product is tearing it up so far on the year, already at 39 points (good for 8th in the MCLA).

Interestingly enough, Bochesa’s former high school teammates from Foothill have been taking care of business for ASU as well. Cooper Pickell is leading the maroon and gold in assists, with 12. Face-off specialist Zack Handy has been nearly unstoppable, even against some of the premier teams in the country, currently sitting at 87-of-109 (a face-off win percentage of 80%).

This game should be a defensive battle, though. While both ASU and SSU have offensive firepower, there’s no doubt where the identities of these two top-10 teams are at. Neither one has allowed an opponent into double-digits yet, and both teams boast experienced, strong defensive cores.

The game will start at 7:00 p.m. PT, and can be caught live at WCSN’s live broadcast page.

You can reach Trey Lanthier by email at treylanthier@gmail.com or on Twitter, @TreyLanthier.

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