Junior defender McKenzie Berryhill chases after the ball in the first period of the game against Oregon State on Oct. 4 in Tempe. (Photo by Stephanie Specht)Garbed in pink uniforms to raise breast cancer awareness, the Sun Devils pushed their streak of consecutive games without a loss to nine in a 1-0 win over Oregon State.
The visiting Beavers dominated possession in the early parts of the game but around the 25th minute, the Sun Devils ramped up the intensity.
“I think from 20 minutes left in the first half through the second half I thought we looked more like us,” head coach Kevin Boyd said. “We started playing better. We handled the ball better, we attacked with better ideas. Our execution wasn't great, service to the goal keeper.”
Redshirt junior forward Mackenzie Semerad would enter the game in the first half, and inject the energy the Sun Devils had been lacking early on.
Videos by Marc Steiner | Sports Reporter
“I thought she played great,” Boyd said. “She changed things in the first half when she stepped on the field. Her energy, the speed at which she was doing things, her ability to cover a lot of ground, I thought she absolutely changed what we were doing in the first half to the positive.”
Junior forward Cali Farquharson, who sprained her ankle early in the team's previous game, started but only played 61 total minutes against Oregon State.
“She’s a little bit hobbled from the injury she took Friday night,” Boyd said. “I rated her at best 40, maybe 50 percent in the first half, and then oddly enough in the second half she looked more like 70 percent.”
The game was scoreless at halftime but ASU turned it on in the second half.
Farquharson returned to the field in the 58th minute and immediately impacted the pace of the game.
In the 75th minute, Farquharson scored the game's only goal, her tenth of the season, on an assist from freshman forward Aly Moon.
“We took an awfully long time to get a goal,” said Boyd.
Farquharson's 10 goals this season matches her season totals from the previous two years.
“I’ve said it all along, she's just a special player,” Boyd said. “She's just a great soccer player in every sense of the word. So to have her on the field even at 60 percent or 70 percent makes a big difference for our team. No surprise that she got a goal.”
After coming away with draws in their previous two games, the Sun Devils got a much-desired victory. ASU hasn't been beaten in nine games and is 8-1-3 on the season, 1-0-2 in Pac-12 conference play.
Reach the reporter at mtsteine@asu.edu or follow him on Twitter @MarcTSteiner
Like State Press Sports on Facebook and follow @statepresssport on Twitter
