It was a tough weekend for the men's lacrosse team as they dropped both games at home, a 11-10 loss to Loyola Marymount Saturday and a 14-6 debacle against UCLA Sunday.
In the beginning of the game against the Lions of Loyola Marymount, the Sun Devils lost control as the Lions took an early 3-0 lead against the Sun Devils.
The Devils got on the board soon after and tied the game because of three goals scored by freshman midfielder Paul Komar. Loyola then scored two unanswered goals, which ASU responded to with goals from midfielders Chris Blentzas and Cody Callahan and attack man Matt Murphy.
ASU went into halftime with a 6-5 lead and Blentzas extended it to two goals shortly into the second half. But then, LMU scored four unanswered goals to take a 10-7 lead.
The two teams exchanged goals before ASU came up with two late goals to cut the deficit to one. They could get no closer, however, and the game ended in a 11-10 loss.
Coach Jon Minder was pleased with the team's effort, especially after the team had fallen behind.
"The guys showed a lot of heart," he said. "They fought back hard."
Komar, who had three goals, was pleased with his individual performance, but was obviously more disappointed in losing the game.
"[My performance] was good but I would have rather won," Kromar said. "If we had picked up more ground balls and put the ball more in the net and ran around more with our heads up, we would've won the game."
"It's a tough loss," junior goal tender Ethan Furtek added. "One goal [games] always are, especially when you come from behind."
The team took a step backwards in the Sunday game against the No. 21 UCLA Bruins. Like the day before, the Devils got off to a slow start and gave up two very early goals in a game they never led.
They trailed 7-3 at halftime and fared just as poorly in the second half. The game was marred with poor fundamental play that Minder called "awful."
UCLA sophomore midfielder Stephan Howsepian scored the first goal in the second half when he picked up a loose ball and took it all the way in for a score.
Later in the third period, Bruin middle David Rogers turned another ASU turnover into a score, extending the lead to 9-3. The Bruins never looked back, scoring seven goals in total in the second half, compared to only six all game for ASU.
After the game, Minder was disappointed with the team's performance.
"Everything about this game today was bad," he said. "I didn't even know what to say after the game because we were terrible. We did nothing right today."
The Sun Devils are now (1-2) for the season, and (0-2) for their division play.
Reach the reporter at christopher.dizon@asu.edu.
