(Photo: Liesl Babicka/WCSN)
With the 2017 season right around the corner, head coach Todd MacRobbie and the ASU men’s club lacrosse team have their eyes set on one thing; winning a national championship.
“We’re setting the tone right now where there’s no underclassmen,” MacRobbie said. “Everyone should be playing at the same level. We’re going to put the best guys out there, no matter what grade level they are.”
The Sun Devils started the 2016 season on a good note by winning their first two games, but then dropped their next four losing to Cal Poly, Boston College, Brigham Young, and Grand Canyon.
ASU finished with a 6-5 regular season record in its first season under MacRobbie and made it to the SLC championship game.
The Sun Devils had high hopes going into the SLC championship game because two of Chapman’s best players were suspended. However, the Panthers still managed to beat the Sun Devils 16-8, ending their season.
Arizona State lost attackman Finn Wells and midfielder Henry Archie due to graduation, but the Sun Devils will still return sophomore attackmen Jake Marthens and Patrick Haviland, who were third and fourth on the team in points.
The Sun Devils have their goals and points leader back from last year in senior attackman Rhett Rodgers, along with junior midfielder Tommy Carasco who led the team with 14 assists in 2016. Junior midfielder Zac Mathien will also return to ASU after he led the team in face offs winning 79 out of 161.
“We’re going to be solid,” Rodgers said. “Our chemistry is getting a lot better. We’re starting to click.”
Justin Straker, who was an assistant coach for ASU in 2015, returns to the Sun Devils coaching staff as an Assistant Coach/Offensive Coordinator after he took a year off to get a Master’s degree in Sports Management from the University of Tennessee. Jeff Wasson, who played for Clarke University in Massachusetts and was an assistant coach at Clarke University and Curry College, is a new face to the ASU coaching staff and will also serve as an assistant coach for the season.
The first few games for the Sun Devils is no cake walk. ASU will start the 2017 at home against Florida State on Feb. 10 and then will hit the road to travel to Georgia Tech and Georgia back-to-back days.
“As coaches we’re ready to go, but the players have a little more work to do,” MacRobbie said.
