By Th‚oden K. Janes
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Have pity on the Sun Devils, because the Arizona lacrosse club won't.
The disgruntled Laxcats (7-5), who are all but out of the running for a berth in the Western Collegiate Lacrosse League playoffs, plan to vent over two month's worth of frustration against Arizona State tonight at 6 in Tempe.
And the UA plans to take no prisoners.
"I want to just wipe them out," midfielder George Donovan said. "I want to win by a lot of goals instead of just winning because we haven't blown out anyone all year."
Despite the Laxcats desire to demolish ASU, the cross-state rivals will be battling mainly for bragging rights, because it is a non-conference game. This is the teams' fourth and final meeting of the season.
The game that really matters will take place in California, and will pit UC Santa Barbara against Chapman College. If Chapman beats the Gauchos, the Laxcats have one more chance for the playoffs, that coming against UCSB this Friday night at Tucson High School. If the Laxcats win that game, they are playoff bound.
But Donovan and his teammates are trying not to look ahead.
"If we do (look ahead to UCSB), then we're going to lose," Donovan said. "But I think that is definitely the more important game just because they are in our conference and it might have an impact on our playoff chances."
In February, Coach Mickey-Miles Felton might have been concerned that his team would go into this kind of game, one in which they should be heavily favored, too relaxed.
But the fiasco in early March in which Arizona was upended by UC San Diego and San Diego State in a two-day span was attributed to overconfidence.
The blame for the San Diego losses was spread among coaches and players alike. Although the Laxcats know those two days have ruined their season, they have refused to dwell on them.
They have been playing well since. And Felton has no fear of a relapse. Besides, Felton said, the players will give twice the effort in their game tonight simply because the opposition wears maroon and gold.
"You know what it's like to lose to ASU around here _ it's not very pleasant," Felton said. "So from that perspective, the game is important because there is nothing like walking around campus and having someone come up to you and go, 'So how did you lose to ASU?'" Read Next Article