Katie Vahle Named Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. – Sun Devil Lacrosse earned a Pac-12 Player of the Week honor for the first time this season, the conference announced on Tuesday.

Katie Vahle was selected as the Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week for the first time in her young career. Arizona State has now had 14 individuals receive the top weekly conference honor in Head Coach Tim McCormack's three seasons, after previously only winning the award three times in the two prior seasons. 
 
The program carries over the momentum from last season, where they were the most decorated team when it came to weekly honors. Of the possible 20 recipients of a Pac-12 Player of the Week award in 2021, ten were Sun Devils. ASU earned seven offensive and three defensive player of the week selections last season and are now on the board for 2022.
 
Katie Vahle – Defensive Player of the Week
 
Freshman goalkeeper Katie Vahle looked a lot like her predecessor, not only donning the #00, but also making acrobatic and athletic plays in a similar fashion to former Sun Devil goalkeeper Berkeley Bonneau. In her first home start at Arizona State, she had a conference player of the week-type performance, earning Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week honors.

"I was looking forward to playing on the home field since I committed in 2019 and finally getting out there with my family and friends watching and getting to play with the team was just exhilarating," Katie Vahle mentioned when asked about her home debut. "There's no better place or people I could have experienced the win with."

Vahle played the first 52 minutes of the game and shut down the Aztecs' offense, allowing only four goals while making nine saves. She added four ground balls and took matters into her own hands on several clear attempts, hustling the length of the field to ensure the Sun Devils could start their offense. In the 16-6 victory, Vahle finished saved 69% of the shots she faced and was awarded her first collegiate victory.
 
"Unbelievably calm, great presence in the cage, confidence, to be able to do that three games into your college career is pretty impressive," Coach McCormack observed in regards to Katie Vahle's performance. "Very excited about the way she came out and battled and she'll be the first one to tell you she's got a great group in front of her and those guys battled really hard but, at the end of the day there were a lot of good opportunities she was able to steal and that's massive momentum. A couple that she saves, we get the transition up the field and get goals on that stuff is huge so, it was great to see her do that."

SUN DEVILS TO WIN PAC-12 PLAYER OF THE WEEK (17)
 
Katie Vahle (3/1/22) – Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week
Kerri Clayton (4/26/21) – Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week
Olivia Hood (4/19/21) – Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week
Emily Glagolev (3/29/21) – Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week
Kerri Clayton (3/23/21) – Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week
Berkeley Bonneau (3/23/21) – Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week
Kerri Clayton (3/15/21) – Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week
Berkeley Bonneau (3/15/21) – Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week
Carley Adams (3/8/21) – Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week
Berkeley Bonneau (2/23/21) – Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week
Carley Adams (2/23/21) – Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week
Kerri Clayton (3/2/20) – Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week
Berkeley Bonneau (3/2/20) – Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week
Emily Glagolev (2/17/20) – Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week
Emily Glagolev (4/22/19) – Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week
Kerri Clayton (4/8/19) – Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week
Kaylon Buckner (2/12/19) – Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week
 
 
2022 PAC-12 LACROSSE PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
 
                        Offensive Player of the Week          Defensive Player of the Week
Feb. 16            Ashley Humphrey, Stanford                           Kait Devir, USC
Feb. 22            Shelby Tilton, USC                                        Kait Devir, USC
Mar. 1              Sadie Grozier, Colorado                         Katie Vahle, Arizona State
 
UP NEXT
The Sun Devils will not play next weekend, giving them ample time to prepare for the Pac-12 schedule. They open the conference slate on Friday, March 11 with a 4 PM MST matchup with Oregon, broadcasted via the ASU Live Stream. Arizona State will make their Pac-12 Network debut on Sunday, March 13 when Colorado comes to Tempe for a 11 AM MST contest. It will air on the Pac-12 Networks and on the Pac-12 Now App, with more information available here.

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