During both of the ASU women's soccer games this weekend, coach Ray Leone was looking for effort from his players. He got that effort in both games but only came out with one victory.
Friday night marked the start of the season for the Sun Devils as they traveled to Santa Clara, Calif., to take on its No. 5 team.
"The effort was there," Leone said. "We learned a lot about our team."
Despite its strong performance, ASU (1-1-0) was unable to score and lost 2-0.
"We made some mistakes, and a good team like that is going to capitalize on those mistakes," Leone said.
After scoring no goals Friday night, the Sun Devils wasted no time putting points on the board in their home opener against Weber State on Sunday afternoon. ASU scored five goals en route to a 5-2 victory over the Wildcats.
Only 1:25 had ticked off the clock when senior forward Liz Bogus found senior midfielder Manya Makoski streaking towards the goal. Makoski put the ball in the net for the first Sun Devil goal of the season.
Weber State (1-1-0) tied the game up only two minutes later off a goal by freshman Hayley McCoy, but ASU junior forward Courtney Crane put the Sun Devils back in front with 39:23 remaining in the first half.
"It was fun to be able to put the ball in the back of the net," Leone said. "We were really aggressive in trying to score."
The Sun Devil's speed and quickness was one factor that allowed them to be on the attack for most of the afternoon as they shot the ball 27 times. Weber State was only able to muster nine shots.
"It has nothing to do with the other team," senior midfielder Brittany Cooper said. "I think we just prepared ourselves this summer and in the preseason and we're fit.
"We're ready to play 90 minutes, and that's what we did."
Cooper scored the final goal for ASU at the 58:14 mark after sophomore forward Alissa Oldencamp's shot went off Weber State goalkeeper Kandice Golar's fingertips and landed in front of her.
"It was just a nice shot by Alissa, and it was a follow up," Cooper said. "Basically they tell us to crash in the box. It's as simple as that."
Oldencamp came into the game with 34:26 left in the first half after Crane went down with a knee injury that could keep her out the remainder of the season.
"She twisted her knee on a cross, and I think that's it," Leone said. "You never want to say for sure, but the doctors aren't too positive."
ASU will return to action Friday night when the University of California, Irvine, visits Tempe.
Reach the reporter at thomas.j.kelley@asu.edu.
