With very little wiggle room to play against a stifling No. 15 UCLA Bruins' (7-3-1) defense, ASU (6-4-1) lost 3-1 at Wallis Annenberg Stadium on Thursday.
In the close to 20-year match-up history between both clubs, UCLA has held ASU to only one win, which came in 2000 in a double overtime duel.
On Thursday, the Bruins wasted no time reminding the Sun Devils of their high-caliber history in the first minute, when a perfectly timed assist from redshirt junior midfielder Chloe Castaneda hit the foot of freshman midfielder Maricarmen Reyes to give UCLA a 1-0 lead in the blink of an eye.
In the amount of time it would take a fan to grab a snack and drink, the Bruins would come back for a second time with Castaneda's second assist to senior forward Anika Rodriguez for the 2-0 lead at the 16th minute.
Although the Sun Devils had only four shots on goal in the first half, the team was still making efforts to even out the score.
Senior forward Casey Martinez produced a shot in the 22nd minute, but it was quickly deflected by Bruins redshirt freshman goalkeeper Lauren Brzykcy.
Then only a few feet away from the net, freshman midfielder Eva Van Deursen had somewhat of an awkward sideways shot at the 36th minute, but it was also caught by Brzykcy.
The Bruins continued their pace at the start of the second half when sophomore forward Ashley Sanchez gave her team a comfortable 3-0 lead.
Later on, the Sun Devils would find the back of the net in the 72nd minute when captain and senior defender Jemma Purfield broke away and managed to score in a two-against-one defense.
With only four shots on goal during the entirety of the game for the Sun Devils, the team will look toward finding stronger defensive tactics to maintain control of the ball against a talented upcoming opponent.
ASU will wrap up its Southern California road trip against No. 2 USC on Sunday at 12 p.m. MST.
Reach the reporter at Edith.Noriega@asu.edu or follow @Noriega_Edith on Twitter.
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