Sun Devils prepare for Bounceback showing with Big 12 play looming

(Photo: Zina Garcia / WCSN)

After an underwhelming to Dartmouth 20-10, Sun Devil Lacrosse (7-3) prepares to compete against Marquette (6-3) with Tuesday action going down in Wisconsin, the final non-conference game of Arizona State’s season

Losing to Dartmouth ended the Sun Devils four game win streak, killing their momentum. With that not carrying over to help the Sun Devils beat Dartmouth in their last game, one of the things Sun Devil offense and defense need to watch out for is their opponents being able to outrun them.

In prior games this season, Sun Devil opponents have been able to take advantage of their speed and create long passing sequences that move them up the field quickly. While ASU tends to pass the ball around.

Passing the ball constantly seems to be working pretty well for the Sun Devils, as this season has been their best since the 2021 season where at the same point of the season the teams have similar records.

The Sun Devils also have players with speed. Like sophomore midfielder Anna Viglione who usually is the Sun Devil in the majority if not all of their face-offs. Viglione is a major part of the Sun Devils offenses ability to connect to their defense. Viglione stood out recently, getting a career-high 16 draw controls in one of ASU’s last games against Furman. This was after getting a career-high of 15 draw controls only two weeks prior.

Before Saturday’s game, the Sun Devils were on a four-game win streak after having a series of four home games in a row. Currently, the Sun Devils haven’t lost at home this season. Losing to Southern California in Los Angeles, and against the University of Denver at a neutral game site, and now losing to Dartmouth at another neutral site.

Both teams have played and won against Niagara and Detroit Mercy. Marquette is entering the matchup with what is currently a two-game win streak, and the Sun Devils are coming with a streak of one loss.

Coming off the loss against Dartmouth, junior attacker Lydia Oldknow recorded yet another hat trick this season, and lead Sun Devils scorer junior attacker Teagan Ng was held to just two goals.

This will be the second matchup between the teams. They last played just before the U.S. was hit with the COVID-19 pandemic and collegiate sports were shut down. In that matchup, the Sun Devils won with a score of 18-14. The only thing that is the same from the 2020 season is Marquettes head coach, Meredith Black who is currently in her 14th season as the head coach of Marquette Women’s Lacrosse.