SCOTTSDALE – The No. 11 Arizona club lacrosse team won the South Division of the Western Collegiate Lacrosse League outright when they defeated No. 18 ASU 14-9 Saturday at Scottsdale Community College.

With their win over the Sun Devils (7-6, 5-3 WCLL), the Laxcats (10-4, 5-2) finished off their season on a strong note, after winning their last three games and gaining momentum as they enter the WCLL playoffs.

Arizona finished 2-1 in the South, along with No. 5 UC-San Diego and ASU. The Laxcats won the title because they hold the advantage in the margin of victory in head-to-head competition between the three schools. The Laxcats beat ASU by more than two in this game, while UCSD beat Arizona by one and lost to the Devils by the same margin earlier in the year.

The Laxcats, however, are not satisfied with only the division crown.

“”We need to go back to basics in the playoffs,”” said senior close defender Carson Parmelee. “”We are going to fight hard and play to the best of our abilities and hopefully make it to the championship.””

Arizona played an efficient game but not to the best of its abilities, Parmelee said.

“”I don’t think we played that well defensively to be honest,”” Parmelee said. “”We allowed nine goals. We won because we followed the game plan and played aggressive and together.””

Arizona head coach Kenny Broschart said that although the Laxcats didn’t play their best, they were able to come out on top because they accomplished what they set out to do.

“”We controlled the game,”” he said. “”When we went man down we outscored them, and usually when you go man down, the other team outscores you by a lot.””

The Laxcats went to their bread and butter – their offense, which scored 14 goals.

Junior midfielder Harrison Crawford scored three goals and had one assist and sophomore attackman Jason Gustafson scored two goals.

“”Our offense played a great game,”” said senior attackman Steve Luna. “”We were able to control the ball and score a lot of goals.””

Broschart said that another important aspect to the Laxcats’ victory was the outstanding play at face-off by sophomore midfielder Gray Morrison.

“”Every single time there was a face-off, Morrison got it back,”” Broschart said. “”Every time ASU scored we would get the ball back, so they could never get on a run.””

The Laxcats seem to be playing together and trusting each other on a whole other level heading into the playoffs, Parmelee said.

“”This is a different team from the mid-season when we lost to (No. 3) Michigan,”” Parmelee said. “”We turned it around since that horrible loss, and hopefully the trust in the hard work will lead us to the championship.””