Sun Devils struggle with defensive discipline in blowout loss

(Photo via Sam Volante/WCSN)

TEMPE – This season has been a rollercoaster ride for Arizona State Women’s Lacrosse. Whether it be a gauntlet of a schedule or the turbulence that can come with a new coaching staff, the Sun Devils have had more valleys than peaks in the bumpy ride this season.

ASU (3-8, 2-4) perhaps reached the descent’s low point on Friday afternoon when it conceded its most goals of the season in a 22-11 loss to Stanford (7-5, 5-1). The Sun Devils have now lost twice to the Cardinal in the last seven days, with ASU losing in the Bay Area 15-9 on March 31.

With the loss, ASU has still been unable to string together consecutive wins at any point this season. Even with the lopsided affair, head coach Taryn VanThof remained positive postgame.

“I think there’s a lot of good to take away from a lot of those quarters,” VanThof said. “The comeback in the third quarter turned the game around from a pretty large deficit to a three goal stint multiple times, so a lot of good to take away. With some emotional control in the fourth, we turn that game around.”

The Cardinal offense was simply too much for the Sun Devils, going down by a staggering 7-2 score after the first period en route to their worst defensive performance all season. VanThof attributed the poor showing to tactical errors.

“Early on we over committed to our slide package,” VanThof said. “We were playing great 1v1 defense and just exposed the backside to loads of opportunities so that was kind of it. Fourth quarter we took a bit of a spiral and I think that was an emotional one. We gotta keep discipline and stay in check of those yellow cards.”

The lack of discipline led to 13 free position shots and six yellow cards for the Cardinal.

Stanford gained the advantage from the jump and never looked back, going on an eight-point run in the fourth period to close out the dominant day. ASU was unable to close the gap to less than three goals at any point in the contest.

The Cardinal’s high flying attack put up 29 shots on goal and sophomore midfielder Annabel Frist connected the most with 5 goals on the day. Frist continues her stellar season, leading the Pac-12 Conference with 40 goals and sitting in second with 48 total points, trailing only her teammate, redshirt sophomore attacker Ashley Humphrey.

ASU had a well-balanced scoring attack with four players netting at least two goals. Freshman attacker Teagan Ng had herself an impressive afternoon, scoring a hat trick and proving to be one of the few bright spots for the Sun Devils.

With only six games left in the season, ASU does not have much time to get back on track. Its next opponent will be Cal on Sunday, who the Sun Devils defeated last week by a 13-9 score.

But VanThof was focused on the big picture after the loss on Friday, having a long conversation with her unit on the field immediately following the game and directing the Sun Devils to stay poised through the challenging season.

“We talked about being a family and we need to make sure we are sticking to that through and through,” VanThof said. “There are highs and lows in the game of lacrosse and quarters can go one way or another but it’s about how you pull through and how you remain together in those moments.”