After ascending to a No. 12 ranking all on their own, the women's lacrosse team held off UCSD 7-5, taking its first game after the hiring of head coach Jenner Lochridge last week.

After a week of practice with Lochridge guiding the team, the Arizona squad (4-4) was able to defeat their conference rival on Sunday.

Lochridge, the brother of men's lacrosse player Jeems Lochridge, played NCAA Division I lacrosse while attending Virginia.

Now armed with a skipper, junior captain Elizabeth Short said she anticipates the team doing well the rest of the season, including the team's games at No. 1 UCLA, No. 3 Cal Poly and No. 5 UCSB.

"The things we worked on just this week in practice has really shown through," Short said.

The Wildcats jumped out to an early lead and were able hold off UCSD in a heated game. During the contest, the Tritons' coach ran on the field multiple times to argue with referees during stoppages of play. Following the game, UCSD declined to shake hands with the UA team and yelled at junior second home Liz Palmer from their van across the field.

The Tritons felt Arizona was pushing them, Short said.

Palmer led the way for Arizona with three goals and an assist while freshman Leah Lipson and juniors Heather Eynon, Michaella Miller and Kim Flatley each had a goal.

"We played well," Short said. "We played a lot more as a team, we really worked well on defense and on offense we just came together."

Previously, the team was coached by men's lacrosse coaches Adam Hopkins and Ken Broshart, but solely during games.

"I can't say enough about Adam and Kenny, they're unbelievable coaches, they know exactly what to say to lift the team, and they're such an asset to us," Short said.

"They're irreplaceable. They got their feelings hurt when Jenner moved in," she said joking.

This weekend, Arizona heads to No. 5 UC Santa Barbara, which beat NCAA Division I Rhode Island last weekend 7-6, looking to avenge an 11-8 loss to UCSB last month.