(Photo Sun Devil Athletics)
Tempe – Arizona State Lacrosse (6-2) played host to Vanderbilt (2-5) in its third game of four straight games at Sun Devil Soccer and Lacrosse Stadium.
The Sun Devils started the game off sluggish. The Commodores took advantage of that, getting their first goal within the first two minutes of the game. By the time that ASU got their first goal, the Commodores were already up 2-1 and were looking to continue building their lead.
The first goal from the Sun Devils came from junior attacker, Lydia Oldknow. She’s been a standout amongst the Sun Devils this season, scoring 18 goals in the first seven games of the season. However, Oldknow did not make the score sheet in their most recent win against the Mercer Bears on Tuesday afternoon, as she had averaged three goals a game up until the competition against the Bears. But Saturday she came back strong, by the end of the game, Oldknow was one of three Sun Devils who notched hat tricks.
While Oldknow is an important piece of the puzzle, the standout of the game was the Sun Devils junior attacker Jordyn Behar. Less than a minute after achieving a hat trick late in the game, Behar capitalized again, scoring her fourth goal and brought ASU to match Vanderbilt at 12-12.
With four goals by the final whistle, the competition against the Commodores became Behar’s highest scoring game of her career. After achieving three goals as a career high against Detroit Mercy just a few weeks prior.
Behar also leads the team with assists and is one of the top players in assists for the NCAA. Before the Commodores, she was tied for first place in the NCAA with senior attacker Kylie Gioga from UNC Charlotte with 27 assists. Following Saturday, Behar takes that number one spot, becoming the number one player in the NCAA between men’s and women’s lacrosse for assists with 30.
“Awesome, it’s all a team thing. So being able to play with my friends and assist them and then finishing, it’s all together. So it’s pretty cool,” Behar said.
ASU head coach Taryn VanThof Puls was ecstatic for Behar’s milestone acknowledging how much it means to such a young program. This is only the team’s 8th season, opposed to teams like Vanderbilt who are in their 19th season.
“I think these kids are selfless with the ball,” VanThof Puls said. “It just opens up opportunities for everybody and Jordyn stepped into an opportunity today and not just delivered for the team, but delivered for the unit. I think that the unit prides itself on everyone’s successes and not just the individual’s success. So pumped for Jordan, but also pumped for the team.”
After being down 5-3 at the start of the second quarter, the Sun Devils were able to claw their way up the scoreboard alongside the Commodores. The Sun Devils were hot on the Commodores’ tails, catching up to 8-9 at one point. Both teams scored six goals in the second quarter, going into halftime with ASU trailing Vanderbilt, 11-9.
On the visitor’s side, by the end of the first half, two Commodores had already contributed hat tricks. Graduate midfielder Brooke Baker was the first player of the match to get a hat trick, accomplishing so with seven minutes left in the half. Senior attacker Nancy Holleron joined her, scoring her third goal with less than two minutes left in the half. Baker is currently the Commodores’ lead scorer on the season with 16 goals before her hat trick.
The contest was physical, by the end of the first half, both teams had multiple yellow and green cards called on them for penalties.
The Sun Devils came out after halftime ready to fight for a win in the second half, their offense taking off in the third quarter. ASU struck first in the second half when freshman midfielder Kendal Morris was able to find the back of the net bringing the score to 11-10, still in favor of the Commodores, who countered shortly after with a goal of their own. The Sun Devils boost really came when they scored five goals uninterrupted to bring the score up to 14-12 in their favor. Later on with just over two minutes left in the third quarter, the Sun Devils had their first hat trick of the game from Behar.
The Sun Devils’ top scorer junior attacker Teagen Ng capitalized against the Commodores three times. This was big because it was not only a hat trick, but also the goals that brought the Sun Devils to their first lead. At the end of the third quarter, ASU was slightly ahead of the Commodores at 14-12. After becoming tied and then taking a lead over the Commodores, the Sun Devils didn’t take their feet off the gas at all. They never gave up their lead and went on to win with a nail-biting score of 16-15.
After their win, the Sun Devils extend their winning streak to three, while the Commodores extend their losing streak to three.
Part of the Commodores’ early success seemed to be due to how they were able to move the ball down the field fast, by stringing together long passes to get into the Sun Devils’ defensive zone. While ASU seemed to use their speed to run the ball up the field and connect with shorter passes, instead of stringing together long passing sequences like their competition.
The Sun Devils now prepare to face Furman who are currently undefeated at 5-0. Like ASU, one of Furman’s last wins was against Detroit Mercy at home. The three-game win streak should give the Sun Devils a boost to come out strong on Mar 15, when the Paladins travel to the Inferno for a game at 12 p.m. AZT.
“Cleaning up just some of our offense and defensive sets in terms of like communication and organization,” VanThof Puls said. “So we’re gonna work through you know a couple different things.”
