TEMPE, Ariz. – The California women's lacrosse team (4-8, 1-3 Pac-12) dropped an 18-11 road decision to Arizona State (7-6, 2-2 Pac-12) in a key Pac-12 matchup on Saturday at Sun Devil Soccer/Lacrosse Stadium. The game was tied 7-7 at halftime after the Golden Bears had led for much of the first half but Arizona State used an 8-2 advantage in the third quarter to pull away.

Josie Lillquist came off the bench to score a career-high and game-high-tying five goals while adding an assist to total six points (also a career high) to lead the Bears' offensive effort. Mya Wang added three goals also off the bench, while the Bears got two scores from Kennedy Mason and one from Kennedy Goss. Kate Rothman tallied two assists, while Alyssa Studdert, Isabel King and Lillquist picked up one each.

Arizona State got a game-high-tying five goals from Mina Scott, while Lydia Oldknow registered a game-high seven points on four goals and a game-high-tying three assists. Bella Ingrao, Gigi Gaspar and Anna Thornton each added two goals for the Sun Devils, while Clair Beucher, Teagan Ng and Shannon Urey had one apiece. Jordyn Behar matched Oldknow's three assists.

Cal started strong by scoring three of the game's first four goals before Arizona State tallied twice in the opening period's final 1:20 to knot the score at 3-3 after the first 15 minutes. Mason scored Cal's first two goals on assists from Lillquist and Rothman before Wang netted a woman-up tally with 2:07 to go to give the Bears a 3-1 lead that was their biggest of the game. Scott scored the first of her five goals on an assist by Oldknow to open the game's scoring with 12:29 to play before scoring unassisted with 1:20 to go in the first to cut Cal's lead to 3-2 before Thornton tied it on an assist from Behar with just 23 first-period ticks left on the clock.

The teams were also equal in the second period with four goals apiece. Ingrao scored a pair of goals in the period, while Scott got her third and Beucher her lone goal. Oldknow and Behar assists on the goals by Scott and Beucher. Goss was the first Cal player to score in the period before Lillquist picked up the next two and Wang the final one just 0:39 to play before intermission. King assisted on Lillquist's first goal and Rothman on Wang's score.

The teams traded a pair of unassisted goals to start the third (Gasper, 12:10; Lillquist, 8:48) before Oldknow put Arizona State in front, 10-8, with back-to-back unassisted goals at the 7:55 and 7:04 marks. Lillquist got one back with her own unassisted goal with 6:10 remaining to get the Bears within 10-9. But it would be the closest the Cal would be the rest of the way as five different Sun Devils (Thornton, Oldknow, Ng, Scott, Gaspar) reeled off the final five goals of the third over the final 5:23. All of the goals were unassisted other than Oldknow's (assist Behar).

The Bears never got any closer than five in the final period after back-to-back goals from Lillquist and Wang (assist Alyssa Studdert) got Cal to within 16-11.

Cal returns to action next Saturday by hosting UC Davis (8-5, 1-3 Pac-12) on Cause Day at California Memorial Stadium in another contest that could have significant ramifications on the Pac-12 Tournament field that will feature the top six of the league's eight teams. The Aggies and Bears are currently in a three-way tie for fifth-place along with Oregon (7-4, 1-3 Pac-12) two games behind fourth-place Colorado (8-4, 3-1 Pac-12) and one ahead of eighth-place San Diego State (1-12, 0-4 Pac-12). First draw is scheduled for 4 pm PDT. The contest will be streamed live on Cal Live Stream-3.

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