(Photo: Matt Harden/WCSN)
The Arizona State Sun Devils fell 2-0 to No. 5 Stanford for their fifth consecutive loss of the year.
Stanford dominated the second half and scored two goals in the 74th and 79th minute.
“The problem was we just couldn’t keep the ball,” junior forward Larisa Staub said. “We couldn’t get more than three passes together and that was a problem.”
For the first ten minutes, it was a back and forth battle between the Sun Devils and the Cardinal, however, no real chances were created to be a legitimate threat. After the first ten the control of the game was in Stanford’s favor as they continued to press forward and play the ball out wide consistently. In addition to that, Stanford was doing a very good job of keeping possession and making smart passes with few errors.
In the 33rd minute, the dead lock was nearly broken as sophomore forward Mariah Lee headed a free kick near the ASU net forcing redshirt senior Chandler Morris to make a diving save.
Following that, in the 35th minute senior midfielder Tommi Goodman went down and was rolling on the ground in serious pain. She had to be helped off the field not being able to put any weight on her right leg. According to head coach Kevin Boyd, she will get x-rays on Saturday.
Following the injury, Stanford continued to put pressure and prevent ASU from forming any sort of attack. Even when something would start to form, the Cardinal defense did an excellent job of tracking back and preventing shot’s from being taken.
Although Stanford seemed dominate, the Sun Devils put on a strong defensive effort and were able to hold them 0-0 at the end of the first half. The Cardinal outshot ASU 8-2 in that half and really stopped the high tempo offense ASU usually has from starting. The main difference between this offense and what they usually have was the full-backs were staying back as opposed to moving forward or overlapping on the wing.
“In order to get your widebacks up you have to connect a couple passes and give them time to go,” Boyd said. “We didn’t have the ball long enough for them to get out into a spot and kept turning it over.”
“Once you get into a routine of turning it over constantly, backs don’t want to go because you got to worry about defending.” Boyd added.
In the second half, towards the beginning ASU was starting to get forward a lot more and apply pressure right back at the Cardinal, however, it was like Stanford flipped a switch in the 52nd minute because from then on the domination from the first half regained life.
In the 62nd minute Morris was called on again to make a superb save as a Stanford forward shot outside the box and Morris stretched every inch of her 5-foot-8 body to force the ball over the net.
“Anytime I can do my part, it’s pretty awesome” Morris said.
As Stanford continued to make runs forward and play the wide ball ironically the deadlock was broken off a solo goal in the 74th minute from sophomore midfielder Andi Sullivan. Sullivan dribbled into space and with no one from the ASU defense stepping up, she drove a left footed shot from outside the box into the bottom corner of Morris’ net, making the score 1-0 Stanford.
In the 79th minute another goal was scored for the Cardinal in a similar fashion. This time the goal coming from redshirt senior forward Haley Rosen. Rosen dribbled into space, had little pressure from the Sun Devil defense and fired a dipping shot from outside the box that dropped right over Morris into the net.
In the final ten minutes, ASU started to wake up and apply the pressure that is used to being seen from this team. The main source of energy and inspiration coming from Staub.
“Sometimes when you’re down you just gotta get back to the game,” Staub said. “Have fun, put a smile on your face and work your ass off.”
In the end, the small spark wasn’t enough for the Sun Devil’s to even get on the score sheet. It is definitely present now how the absence of senior forward Cali Farquharson has affected the team.
Even though the void from Farquharson is noticeable, the defense from Stanford was an equal reason for the offense not finding its rhythm. They kept possession really well, and aside from the final ten minutes, every time a spark of life came from ASU the defense would shut them down and more time than not prevent the shot from even occurring.
“Stanford is the best team we’ve played” Boyd said. “They put us on our heels and we never came off of them”
This loss puts the Sun Devils at 4-5-0 on the season. They look to break the losing streak and get back to winning ways this Sunday as they take on Cal Berkeley in Tempe at 1 P.M. PST.
