In a matinee match at Sun Devil Soccer Stadium, ASU soccer dropped it's sixth consecutive game in a 1-0 loss to No. 23 California that saw sophomore forward Aly Moon go down with an injury.
"In the first half Cal absolutely outplayed us, and in the second half we outplayed them," ASU head coach Kevin Boyd said. "But things just aren't going our way."
The Sun Devils (4-6), much like they did against Stanford on Friday, played to a scoreless draw in the first half despite a disproportionate amount of shot attempts.
California led in shots 9-4, but both teams notched two shots on goal in what was a back-and-forth first 45 minutes.
For the Golden Bears (7-3-2), the two best opportunities of the half came in the 24th minute from junior forward Arielle Ship and senior forward Samantha Witteman.
Ship hustled toward the six-yard box and fired the ball to the right side of goal, but redshirt senior goalkeeper Chandler Morris made a kicking save that deflected to her right.
With Morris out of position, Witteman came upon the ball and took a point-blank shot of her own toward an empty net.
But in her way stood sophomore defender Madison Stark, who stopped the ball with her feet and cleared it to prevent any further damage.
The remainder of the half included a handful of chances for the Sun Devils, including a late chip attempt by sophomore forward Jessica Raybe that landed in the grasp of the California goalkeeper.
Raybe said that she thinks her team is letting all of the losses get in their heads.
"We need to just find ourselves as a team," Raybe said. "I really think we need to get together and tell ourselves that we are good enough to do this, because we are."
The second half began with what was a scary moment for the Sun Devils. In the 52nd minute, Moon collided with sophomore goalkeeper Emily Boyd and went down hard.
Moon went up to attempt a headed effort at goal, and Boyd's attempt to punch the ball away failed, resulting in a punch that landed on Moon's head.
Trainers immediately sprinted out onto the field and stabilized Moon's head and neck as she lay motionless in front of the goal, and after a roughly 20-minute stoppage an ambulance arrived at Sun Devil Soccer Stadium.
EMTs tended to Moon and placed her on a stretcher and into the ambulance. She was conscious and responsive, according to Steve Rodriguez of Sun Devil Athletics.
As play resumed, the Sun Devils came out firing and out-played their opponent despite a disappointing first half.
In the 67th minute, redshirt senior midfielder Mackenzie Semerad sent a cross toward the box that found Raybe, but her headed shot fell wide right.
Semerad had a shot attempt of her own in the second half that nearly found the net, and so did junior forward Larisa Staub.
Staub appeared frustrated and was being very physical with her defenders as the match approached its final minutes. She said the physicality was a result of just getting stuck in tackles.
"I thought we played well today," Staub said. "We got stuck in, passed the ball around, but we just couldn't finish."
California finally broke the tie in the 78th minute as Witteman got on top of a failed clearance and rifled it home with her left foot. The ball scooted toward the left side of goal before Witteman struck it to the right and out of the reach of Morris.
Tensions were high as the game came up on its final few minutes, and that was evident when ASU assistant coach Blair Quinn was assessed a yellow card for arguing a foul call.
Raybe gave one last effort at goal on an attempt from outside of the box that struck the crossbar, but it came up empty.
Boyd said that simply, his team needs a win.
"We talked about embracing adversity and our ability to combat adversity – well this is it," Boyd said. "We're down players, the ball isn't bouncing our way, we can't seem to get any breaks in the game – that's just the way it is right now and we have to work our way through it."
ASU's next match will be against USC at 3 p.m. on Friday in Los Angeles. Both of the weekend's games, including the match against UCLA on Sunday, will be broadcasted on Pac-12 networks.
Related Links:
ASU soccer drops fifth straight game with 2-0 loss to Stanford
ASU soccer aiming to regain focus heading into matchups with Stanford and California
Reach the reporter at rclarke6@asu.edu or follow @RClarkeASU on Twitter.
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