Sophomore forward Aly Moon dribbles the ball around her opponent in a home scrimmage against NAU on Aug. 15. (Photo by Emily Johnson)ASU bounced back to beat USC on a sunny Friday afternoon at McAlister Field.
Both freshman forward Aly Moon and junior forward Cali Farquharson would be in the starting lineup, after both having recently been kept off the starting lineup due to injuries. Moon missed most of the past two games due to her injury.
Earlier head coach Kevin Boyd recognized that even though his team is doing relatively well without one of their top scorers on the field, he would prefer having both playing.
“We have been missing one or the other each of these games,” Boyd said. “It’ll be huge when we get them back on the field back together. The two of them are spectacular together.”
Now that both Moon and Farquharson are back, Boyd is looking forward to seeing how the team will play.
“When Moon is in the game we hold the ball better, and we hold it better up top,” Boyd said. “It allows us to play our game.”
ASU would get onto the board in just the ninth minute of the game after an impressive effort by Farquharson. Farquharson hustled back to the USC goalie, and deflected the kick, and then the ball just rolled into the net.
“Thats what she does.” Boyd said. “It’s what we ask from our players, on the ball and off the ball. Her work ethic this is tremendous. It’s a great trait she possess.”
“I realized the keeper took a longer touch than expected, and I just ended up stripping her,” Farquharson said. “I thought I had to kick it in, but it just kind of went in the goal.”
The score would remain 1-0 at halftime in favor of the Sun Devils, after a very competitive first half. Both teams got plenty of shots off, with USC shooting eight, three of which were on goal, and ASU barely trailing behind with seven, two of which were on goal.
“When you play good teams, you can’t take away all their chances,” Boyd said. “You have to limit the chances they get.”
Farquharson would go down hard after a foul in the 64th minute, and a penalty was awarded. She converted the penalty, scoring her second goal of the game, putting ASU up 2-0.
This game marked the 11th and 12th times Farquharson has scored this season, breaking her personal single-season scoring record. In both her freshman and sophomore years, Farquharson managed to score 10 goals, a feat which she equaled earlier in the season against Oregon State. She currently leads the Pac–12 in scoring. This is now the ninth time in her career that Farquharson has been able to score two or more goals in a game.
As usual, Farquharson was humble in her postgame remarks.
“I’m not trying to focus on it,” Farquharson said. “I’m happy that I'm not at 10 anymore. I just try to go into every game and do what is best for the team.”
Boyd was happy for Farquharson, but corroborated that she doesn't focus on it.
“She's not really focused on records, she's focused on the team winning.” Boyd said.
This game against USC marks the final game of a three game road trip, which saw ASU lose to Washington, and tie in double overtime against Washington State.
“It’s nice to get back into the win column,” Boyd said. “We went 1-1-1 on the road, and that’s pretty good. Getting wins in this conference is so hard, I want to credit our defensive commitment. It’s those traits that help. Chandler had another great game, as did our whole back line. Our defensive commitment has been outstanding.”
The Sun Devils play Cal in Tempe at 7 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 24.
Reach the reporter at mtsteine@asu.edu or follow him on Twitter @MarcTSteiner
Like State Press Sports on Facebook and follow @statepresssport on Twitter.
