By Colleen O’Connell

In its only game of the week, then-No. 9 Arizona State traveled to then-No. 10 UC Santa Barbara and came away with a narrow 9-8 victory over the Gauchos Sunday, April 6. As a result, the Sun Devils have been selected as the Onyx/Riddell Lacrosse MCLA Team of the Week.

“When our schedule came out, the team asked why we were only going to Santa Barbara for one game,” said first-year head coach Chris Malone. “My response was that it was going to be a huge game that might help us get into the MCLA Tournament. The situation after the UCSD game was that we really haven’t beaten anyone to argue why we should be in the top 10.

“Santa Barbara was the biggest game of our season and it meant a lot to come away with a huge win. I’ve always told the team that as good as last year was, we’ve got to put last year behind, move on with the 2008 season and prove we can be in the top 10,” continued Malone.

The Gauchos took an early 1-0 lead off a Brendan Sindell goal just 58 seconds into the game, but Arizona State responded as Tyler Westfall scored off an Anthony Laflam pass at 13:26 to even the game at one. The Gauchos reeled off three straight goals in order to take a 4-1 advantage with 1:02 to go in the first quarter. Arizona State’s Eric Nelson made it a two-goal game with his goal at 14 seconds left in the opening quarter.

Arizona State carried the momentum over to the second quarter with Laflam, Tyler Westfall and Nelson all tallying goals to give the Sun Devils a 5-4 lead with 8:25 to go. However, UCSB’s Ryan Brent scored off a Cole Bailey feed at 2:43 to tie the game 5-5, which ultimately was the score as the two teams headed into halftime.

“A huge difference was, one, face-offs. In the second quarter, we won 4-1, giving us more offense opportunities,” explained Malone about the difference in the first and second quarters. “And two, we had good possessions when on offense and finished our shots.”

Both teams remained scoreless through much of the third quarter, until UCSB’s Nate Wellin scored on an extra-man opportunity off a feed from Sindell with 23 seconds left in the quarter to put the Gauchos up 6-5. However, Ryan Westfall tied the game with just five seconds remaining as the teams went into the fourth quarter deadlocked 6-6.

Arizona State started the final quarter with an man-up opportunity as Ben Vosika drew a Gaucho penalty right at the end of the third quarter. The Sun Devils capitalized on their extra man opportunity with Tyler Westfall finding Nelson just 18 seconds into the quarter to give Arizona State the 7-6 lead.

UCSB evened the game with a Kennan Tabusa goal, but a Pete Noel tally allowed the Sun Devils to hold the slim 8-7 advantage. Yet, Wellin scored a man-up, game-tying goal at 3:47.

“I knew if we could get up two goals, the game would be ours,” said Malone. “Give UCSB credit, they came back and put up a fight. They are a better team than what people think.”

However, just 1:15 after Wellin’s goal, Tyler Westfall notched what ultimately proved to be the game-winner at 2:32 when he took advantage of the UCSB defensive match-up he had.

“Tyler got a short-stick match-up and when he gets that it’s a great opportunity,” state Malone. “He saw the match-up, got the ball where he wanted, dodged and Santa Barbara was slow to slide. He was pushed to the inside, went one-on-one with the goal and buried the shot.

“Tyler is a smart player that knows situations. He is a leader on the team and has stepped up in big games with the situation is presented,” continued Malone.

Vosika, who went 13-of-20 from the face-off x, won the ensuing face-off to give the Sun Devils the offensive possession and the chance to take time off the clock. However, needing to keep it in the box, Arizona State stepped out of the box in the closing minutes and turned the ball over to the Gauchos.

“We were on defense for about a minute,” stated Malone. “Our defense did a great job with cutters and talking. We got the ball on the ground and sent it down the field.”

At the opposite end of the field, Malone had both Tyler and Ryan Westfall and Nelson lined-up against the UCSB defense, all ready to battle for the final possession of the game.

“I had all the confidence that one of them would get it and run out the clock,” said Malone.

“You have to credit our defense,” added Malone. “They recognized what Santa Barbara was going to do. They stepped up in a big situation.”

The Sun Devils return to action this weekend with a game at San Diego Sunday, April 13 at 1 p.m.

For being selected as the Onyx/Riddell Lacrosse MCLA Team of the Week, Arizona State will receive a prize pack from Onyx/Riddell Lacrosse, including one Riddell XR Lacrosse Helmet customized in Arizona State’s team colors.

Riddell Lacrosse helmets are exclusively distributed by Onyx Lacrosse. For more information on Onyx Lacrosse and the Riddell Lacrosse Helmet, please visit http://www.OnyxLacrosse.com.

This entry was posted on Friday, April 11th, 2008 at 6:53 am and is filed under MCLA News, Team of the Week, WCLL. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.