The wakeup call came just a little late.
 
Saving two of its better offensive quarters of the season for its home closer, the Grand Canyon University Women's Lacrosse team gave archrival Arizona State University all it could handle before bowing, 17-14, in the Lopes' regular season finale Friday night at GCU Soccer Stadium on the GCU Campus. The Lopes' 4^th-quarter rally wasn't enough to avoid their second straight loss and drop their season record to 5-7 overall. GCU also finishes Western Women's Lacrosse League South play with a 1-3 mark and stands in limbo in relation to the WWLL Playoffs, which begin in two weeks.
 
The Lopes surprised the 10^th-ranked Sun Devils by matching ASU's high-powered offense stride for stride in the game's first 15 minutes. After Kelsey Pinta got the Devils off to a 1-0 lead a little under two minutes into the game, GCU powered back with goals from Shaylee Smith, Kyra McCrady and Ava Loeffler within a 43-second span to take the lead. That set the tone for five straight minutes of nothing but back-and-forth offense, with the teams combining for eight goals during that span, and ASU getting the better of it to take a 7-5 edge still with six minutes left in the first quarter (and an 8-6 lead at the end of the period).
 
"Watching film showed us that the Devils "ball-watch" and "player-watch" a lot, so there's openings all over the place," said Lopes' Head Coach Tracy Ramirez. "We've been working on our motion in our offense and creating that space for each other and opportunities to score, and that worked so well against ASU's defense."
 
The Lopes struggled to maintain that frantic pace, though, and ASU took advantage, outscoring GCU, 5-2, in the second quarter to take a 13-8 lead at the half. The Lopes gave themselves several strong scoring opportunities during the 3^rd quarter, but the Devils took advantage of errant GCU passing to thwart the Lopes and maintain a five-goal edge after three periods, 15-10.
 
The Lopes then mounted one final comeback, shoring up their passing, and getting more aggressive to make steals in the middle of the field to keep the ASU defense on its heels throughout the first 10 minutes of the final quarter. Unassisted goals from Mercedes Hough, Loeffler and Paige DeVries – as well as a Hough-assisted McCrady score - brought the Lopes back within two with 5:12 left. The Devils (9-1 overall, 3-0 WWLL South) called timeout, came out of it more aggressive on defense to get the Lopes off-balance, and shut out GCU from there, putting the game out of reach with a Pinta goal with 3:32 remaining, and extending the Sun Devils' winning streak to nine games.
 
"We just looked like we lost that fire a little bit in the middle quarters, and that's something we continue to work on," said Ramirez. "Seeing that we were doing so well against the top team in the league in the fourth quarter, our girls started to realize that they have the ability, the skills, the knowledge to compete right with them. We just have to keep reinforcing that and continue to build them up."
 
DeVries kept the Lopes afloat in the middle quarters, scoring a goal in each of the last three periods for a hat trick, while Smith, Hough, Loeffler and McCrady pitched in a pair of goals each. Hough also led the way with a pair of assists in her final home game as a Lope, since she, Rachel Ware, Brooke Cole and Maggie Bjerkaas were all honored during Senior Night festivities before the contest.
 
Since several of the Lopes' WWLL South opponents still have games remaining on their regular season schedules, GCU now must play the waiting game to see if the WWLL Playoffs will include them as an at-large bid among the eight-team contingent. The WWLL's regular season officially ends next weekend.