Arizona men’s lacrosse collected the first two wins of the Derek Pedrick era.
The Laxcats (2-1) lost their season opener 8-6 at San Diego on Valentine’s Day, but won the next two games of their Southern California trip. They beat Washington State 14-2 and No. 19 Oregon State 14-5, both in Los Angeles.
Pedrick, Arizona’s new head coach, came to Tucson from an NCAA Division II team, Notre Dame de Namur in California, where he was head coach.
“I am looking forward to working with a team that has a lot of talent,” Pedrick said.
Pedrick is also adjusting to coaching in the Men’s Collegiate Lacrosse Association. At Notre Dame de Namur, he led the Argonauts to a conference championship in 2011.
Pedrick replaced longtime head coach Mickey-Miles Felton, who founded the current men’s lacrosse program.
The Laxcats’ next game will be at USC on Saturday and will be broadcast live on the Lacrosse Network at 5 p.m. Arizona’s home opener will be March 9 against New Hampshire.
Lady LaxCats sweep Grand Canyon State rivals
Arizona women’s lacrosse dominated this past weekend, beating both ASU 12-8 on Friday and Grand Canyon 19-4 on Saturday.
“The team has earned bragging rights in Arizona,” head coach Mike Kapp said.
This is Kapp’s third year coaching the Lady LaxCats (3-3).
“I am excited to watch the team reach their full potential,” Kapp said. “They have played great lacrosse lately and they are starting to click as a team.”
Team captain and senior Stephanie Crane said the Lady LaxCats came back in the second half to beat the Sun Devils.
“Offensively, we played well in the first half, but ASU got ahead of us,” Crane said. “Luckily we were able to prevail in the second half and pull off the win.”
Saturday was Arizona’s first-ever game against Grand Canyon.
“GCU played well for this being their first year as a team,” Crane said. “I was happy to play against them and go over some crucial offensive plays in the game,”
Up next for the Lady LaxCats will be a home game against UCLA on Saturday at 10 a.m. at Cherry Field.
—Follow Daniela Vizcarra @vizcarra_dw