It was a weekend full of splits, as ASU won the first and last of its four games in the UC Irvine Invite.
Saturday:
The Sun Devils would get off to a good start to the tournament, notching a decisive win over San Diego State. Sophomore center Alkistis Benekou would face her sister, sophomore defender Iolis Benekou. Although both sisters would score two goals, Alkistis would outplay her sister, leading ASU in scoring. The Sun Devils held the Aztecs scoreless in both the second and third quarters of the game thanks to the help of a strong defensive effort by the team, and redshirt freshman goalkeeper Mia Rycraw. ASU would defeat SDSU 6-3.
After starting off the day with a nice win, ASU would fall heavily to No. 3 USC. Four ASU players managed to score one goal apiece in the abysmal defeat. The harshest of the beating came in the third quarter, where USC managed to find the back of the net six times, and ASU did not score at all. Rycraw would record a career-high 13 saves, but would let in 14 goals in the game. With the loss, the Sun Devils would not find themselves in the winners bracket, and would instead find themselves in the consolation bracket for Sunday’s games.
Sunday:
The Sun Devils would look to put their defeat from the previous day behind them in their game against Hawaii, but the defeat from yesterday was still too fresh in their minds. ASU would again struggle to find its offense against a ranked team, only managing to score five goals. Both teams would be scoreless at the end of the first quarter. ASU would then score three of its five goals in the second quarter, and would be outscored by a single point in the final quarter of play. Senior attacker Petra Pardi would lead the Sun Devils in scoring with two goals.
After a two-game slide, the Sun Devils needed a win, and that is exactly what they earned against No. 9 CSU Northridge. ASU would edge out the Matadors in the first half, doubling CSUN’s halftime score 6-3. However, the Matadors would rally back in the second half, making it a close game. The Sun Devils would ultimately win 9-7 behind a hat trick by sophomore attacker Izabella Chiappini.
The Sun Devils have two weeks to work out kinks and improve in practice before heading back out to California to play CSU Bakersfield on March 7
Reach the reporter at mtsteine@asu.edu or follow @MarcTSteiner on Twitter
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