The Arizona men's club lacrosse team will seek to extend its four-game winning streak at Murphy Stadium this weekend, when UC San Diego and Southern California come to town.
The Laxcats' recent success has been a result of their potent offense. Over their last six games, they have averaged nearly 16 goals scored - by far the squad's best mark over any such span this season.
Junior attackman Adam Paris has averaged a robust six points in the last three games, highlighted by a six-goal, three-assist performance Sunday against Loyola Marymount in Los Angeles.
But Arizona head coach Kenny Broschart said the team needs to focus on the other side of the ball.
"We need to keep progressing on defense," he said. "We're starting to get into the nature of defense in practice. We need to keep that going."
While Broschart's words may ring of Allen Iverson ("Practice? We're talking about practice?"), the players agree: defense wins lacrosse matches.
"The offense really starts with the defense," said sophomore attackman Greg Polheber. "The whole team needs to function as a group."
The group approach has worked for the Laxcats, who enter their 1 p.m. tilt with the Tritons with an 8-3 record, 3-1 in the Western Collegiate Lacrosse League.
Attackman Nick Dean leads the charge for San Diego (8-4, 2-1 WCLL), which has won its last five games and seven of eight overall.
"UCSD is very well-coached," Broschart said. "It will be important for us to play a good game against them."
Looking to avenge its L.A. brethren, USC visits Arizona Sunday at 1 p.m. The Trojans (1-7, 0-1) enter the game shorthanded, with junior defenseman and team captain Brian Rothenberg sidelined by a knee injury suffered in their 11-9 loss March 24 to Pacific Lutheran.
That leaves Trojan attackman Dave Miller, who scored five points in the team's Wednesday loss to Loyola, as USC's biggest threat.
That suits the Laxcats just fine.
"We play these teams, with Loyola and San Diego, and they have one great player," said sophomore defenseman Carson Parmelee. "It's easy for six defensemen and a goalie to key in on one player, you know?"
If nothing else, Broschart said he knows one thing for sure: Keeping the win streak going this weekend will take more complete efforts from his players, starting on offense.
"The fourth and fifth scoring guys on our team are starting to step up, like (freshman midfielder) Harrison Crawford and (junior midfielders) Steve Luna and Dave Sherman," Broschart said. "Those are the ones who are making us a better team."