Dannika Borges and Erin Rawls are back. Borges ended a three-month scoring drought with a two-goal performance and Rawls returned from a 120-day absence. Both were key in ASU’s 5-2 victory over Denver Friday.
The Sun Devils stormed out of the gates and never looked back, tying a single-game program high in goals.
Borges put the Devils on the scoreboard first while on the power play, tipping in a shot from captain KC McGinley with 5:23 to go in the first period.
“It feels amazing,” Borges said. “I wanted that goal, I want more goals, it’s good to be back on the board.”
Borges wanted more goals and got exactly that in the second period as a wrist shot from the point found its way to the back of the net to extend the Sun Devil lead to 2-0.
“I’m so happy because as a team, we made those opportunities happen,” Borges said.
Borges played forward all game long, a position where she had not seen much playing time in recent games, having spent most of her minutes as a defenseman.
“I think she had an extra ounce of energy tonight just because she on forward tonight instead of defense,” head coach Lindsey Ellis said. “That clearly showed. To be able to get a goal tonight, she just came out fired up and that showed on the ice.”
On Borges’ second goal, the assist was credited to Rawls. It was Rawls’ first point of the season after suffering an ankle injury, having only played in two games up to that point.
Rawls was nervous all day and slower on the ice than she’d like. But she was “pumped” after having not recorded a point in the first two games of the season.
“I have my first statistic,” Rawls said. “I made it.”
Ellis took Rawls’ situation on a day-by-day basis, but Rawls said they decided the day before that she was ready.
For Ellis, Rawls’ return was one much welcomed.
“Erin has really good hockey knowledge,” Ellis said. “She knows exactly where to be on the ice, she’s not afraid to shoot the puck at all.”
Through the first two periods, the Devils led the Pioneers in shot count, 24-22.
The Devils have finished two games in the two years of the program with more shots than their opponent. The most recent time was Nov. 5 against GCU in Boulder, Colo., and the first instance occurred nearly one year ago. The last time ASU faced Boulder, the Sun Devils outshot the Pioneers 43-40.
A big reasons why the Devils outshot their opponent laid in the efforts of Sun Devil goaltender Jordan Nash-Boulden.
Safe to say @JoboTheGoalie has a cheering section pic.twitter.com/b15jj4xNaa
— Nicholas Badders (@BadderUpSports) February 3, 2018
With a cheering section in the crowd, Nash-Boulden faced over 30 shots allowing only two.
That cheering crowd was comprised of fellow ghostbusters (friends she works in a charity initiative). The group volunteers in the community dressed as ghostbusters and the crew came out to Oceanside to support one of their youngest members.
Up 2-1 in the third period, senior captain Amber Galles gave ASU a cushion with just over half of the period to go, collecting an unassisted goal to extend her team lead in goals to nine.
Denver quickly answered back while on the power play, and the Devils, who were skating with 11 players for the first time since mid-November, continued to play with with more intensity than fans had seen in a long time. They did not let the late goal in the second period or the goal while on the penalty kill affect them.
Minutes after Denver closed the gap to 3-2, ASU scored two more goals, seconds apart. Catherine Jones tipped in a shot from Borges, and McGinley scored on the power play immediately after, on an assist from Alyssa Ayers.
McGinley’s goal, which dug the dagger in Denver, was the team’s second power play goal and gave her two points for the night. The assist from Ayers gave exactly half of the healthy Sun Devils a point in the game.
Special teams play was a point of emphasis for Ellis prior to the game, as the team had struggled at times over the course of the season and had spent extra time during practice going over both the power play and penalty kill.
Changing up the power play unit’s breakout in practice proved to be effective move for Ellis. The two power play goals account for one-third of the team’s goals while on the advantage this season.
The Sun Devils play host to Denver in their final home game of the season at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday, seeking to duplicate last year’s sweep. With that comes the final game at home for the team’s first class of seniors.
“Obviously for the seniors, it’s going to be an emotional night for them,” Ellis said. “For everyone to be able to keep their emotions in check and keep their head in the game is what is going to be able to make the difference tomorrow.”
One of those graduating, all of whom are captains, is McGinley, one of the most vocal and emotional players on the team.
“Tomorrow is going to be super emotional, everyone is going to see me cry,” McGinley admitted. “I’m going to need something to dry my eyes … It will be so much fun, I’ve been excited about this for a really long time so hopefully I can have fun with it and stay present.”
The Sun Devils are aware of the implications.
“We love these four girls,” Rawls said in anticipation of Senior Night. “They are the core of the team, and they are important every single day to us… It’s really important to give them a win on their day to show our love for them.”
