(Photo: Jack Harris/WCSN)
Courtney Martinez Connor couldn’t hide the excitement in her voice.
On the eve of her program’s inaugural weekend, Arizona State’s women’s lacrosse coach laughed through a sigh of relief: “We literally cannot wait for our first two games this weekend.”
This moment has been a long time coming for the upstart Sun Devil squad, the newest Division I sport fielded by an expanding ASU athletic department.
After the school elevated men’s hockey to a Division I sport late in 2014, it began searching for a women’s sport to add to remain Title IX compliant. Women’s lacrosse became an obvious choice and was announced in 2015 as the university’s 24th DI program. Senior associate athletic director Scottie Graham described the sport – which has over 100 schools at the DI level – as a “natural fit” for the school at the time.
Martinez Connor entered the picture a month later, leaving her gig as a lacrosse color analyst with ESPN and the Big Ten Network to head up the Sun Devils new program as its first-ever head coach.
“I always said I’d come back for the perfect program,” Martinez Connor told Cronkite Sports on Tuesday. When she evaluated the job, Martinez Connor was won over the Tempe weather, chance to build a program from the start and possibility of a long tenure.
“We are surrounded by great people, great athletic director, great president. When they are always forward-thinking and never looking back, that’s something that really resonated with me.”
Martinez Connor arrived in the Valley as a big name in women’s lacrosse, a five-time national champion and National Defender of the Year during a storied career as a player at Maryland.
She had also led program rebuilds at UMBC and Mount St. Mary’s (where she left as the all-time winningest coach in program history) before taking up a role in the broadcast booth.
ASU has become maybe her toughest challenge yet, but also a rare opportunity to create a new legacy from scratch.
“It was a long process, one that I wouldn’t trade for the world,” she said. “There were certainly a lot of ups and downs. A lot goes into building a program that people don’t think about. Something as simple as, you need a desk.
“Obviously you have to recruit, you need players. But, you get to put your stamp on it from the beginning. That’s what I think is most exciting.”
Attracting players to a non-traditional lacrosse market, Martinez Connor has compiled a diverse group for her first ASU squad. Only two girls are from Arizona.
“I think that’s the part that makes the team really unique, to come from the east coast, the west, down south,” she said. “I think that’s what makes our program really passionate, not just about the sport, but about one another. They come from all walks of life.”
One thing most of the Sun Devils have in common: they are young.
Of ASU’s 40 players, only seven are upperclassmen. Just three are seniors. An inevitable challenge of building a new program.
“They’re literally going to be having a lot of firsts…” Martinez Connor said. “We are going to be learning a lot about them.”
Tasked with leading the inexperienced bunch are the Sun Devils two captains, junior attacker Karri Clayton and junior defender Rachel Gregory.
“We have a lot of good kids on this team,” Gregory said. “A lot of girls who are willing to buy in.”
Gregory, a native of Babylon, New York, joins the Sun Devils as a transfer from Hofstra University. She has found the change to a debuting program to be a positive one.
“It’s more of an ‘I got your back’ kind of vibe than an ‘I’m all for myself kind of vibe,’” Gregory said. “The coaching staff is great. They treat us like gold.”
Clayton however, has been in Tempe since last school year, one of 16 players who came to campus a year early to get a head start on working with Martinez Connor.
“There is such a great atmosphere right now,” Clayton said. “The countdown is on the board to (our first two) games.”
Expectations for the Sun Devils debut season are tough to pinpoint. ASU was picked to finish a last-placed sixth in the Pac-12 preseason poll, not surprising for a team without any prior history.
But the auspicious group claimed they are ready to hit the ground running and go “balls to the wall” to make their program’s first season a successful one, starting with a Friday-Sunday swing through the Southeast to face Kennesaw State and Stetson.
“We are trying to play as a team, and we are trying to get two W’s” Gregory said with a confident smile, failing like her coach to conceal her unbridled excitement.
Martinez Connor can sense it too. Two years was a long enough wait for her new program. They are ready to start winning, now.
“We have a lot of players who are hungry,” she said. “(They) are ready for the challenge.”
