Sign up for the latest news & updates

© 2024 USA Lacrosse. All Rights Reserved.

Not unlike other coaches in similar situations, Tim McCormack had a vision of what the Arizona State women’s lacrosse program could be under his watch.

Arizona State had gone 6-12 in each of its first two seasons as a fledgling Division I team prior to McCormack’s hiring on June 12, 2019. The Long Island native and All-American goalkeeper at UMass had spent six years under Kelly Amonte Hiller at Northwestern before taking the reins of his own program out West.

Armed with a scenic campus in a warm climate with a burgeoning academic environment, McCormack is confident he can build a consistent winner in the Sun Devils. In his first year in charge, his team went 5-3 before the COVID-19 pandemic wiped out what was a hopeful start to his tenure.

Now 5-2 ahead of a Friday matchup at home against Oregon, the Sun Devils are seeing the fruits of their labor. They’re seeing out McCormack’s vision.

“We’ve got to keep playing as what we’ve defined as ‘Sun Devil Lacrosse,’” McCormack said. “Every single day, not just when we see another opponent.”

So, what is “Sun Devil Lacrosse?” It’s an amalgamation of core values like putting the team first, confidence, love of the game and controlling the controllables. McCormack thinks the team has already done much of that successfully, even though the vast majority of the roster is not made up of players he recruited with that mindset.

Rarely on national radars in its first years as a program, Arizona State made a statement last Friday in Southern California. Not only did the Sun Devils beat USC — an accomplishment in itself — they dismantled the Women of Troy 20-9. It was their first win in six tries against their Pac-12 rival, which held an average margin of victory of 11.6 goals over the Sun Devils entering the game.

Kerri Clayton was a force with six goals and five assists. Emily Glagolev was a secondary threat with four goals and three assists. Carley Adams scored five goals on six shots. Perhaps most importantly, Berkeley Bonneau was unflappable in the cage, making 11 saves in an 11-goal win. It was Arizona State’s first victory over at Top 20 team in program history.

“We found a really good balance pregame,” McCormack said. “My assistants and I quickly grabbed each other before the warmups started because we saw that we were in that nice flow state. A big message of ours has been, ‘Have fun; we got this taken away from us.’

“As soon as we got off the bus, nothing changed compared to when we got back on the bus. They were loose.”

It might be too premature to say the balance of power in the Pac-12 is changing. Discounting the unfinished 2020 season, three teams have consistently been in the mix. USC was both the regular season and tournament champion in 2019, one year after Colorado won the regular season crown and Stanford won the conference tournament.

McCormack is anxious to see how his team can continue to shake up the hierarchy of the young conference, which first sponsored women’s lacrosse in 2018.

“I think it’s a conference where everyone’s in the mix. Everyone competes,” McCormack said. “On any given day, anyone can win any game. It’s a really fun conference to play in.”

The Sun Devils’ might in the conference could continue to grow as McCormack begins to bring in his own recruits to further his vision. Arizona State administration is certainly on the team’s side, as it added a brand-new lacrosse-only practice facility in the midst of a pandemic.

The team has access to the field 24-7. It features improved irrigation and will naturally have less wear and tear than the previous practice field, which was shared with the women’s soccer team.

That’s a shiny new toy to brag about to potential recruits, as is the administration’s financial commitment to the program at a time when some schools are scaling back economically. But academics and the school’s campus are already major selling points.

“We’re fortunate, for sure,” McCormack said. “The natural beauty that we have out here to offer, the weather and where we’re situated, but also the academic side of things. We’ve come a really long way on that front. We have the most student-athletes of any team in [Barrett, the Honors College of Arizona State University.]”

The scrappy, scratch-and-claw-for-every-ground-ball team is motivated to continue on its upward trajectory. The players are certainly putting in the work to achieve what they hope “Sun Devil Lacrosse” continues to be.

“Every day is game day,” McCormack said. “Whether we’re out there on a Tuesday at 8 a.m. or Friday night under the lights for a game, that doesn’t change our approach.”