Nothing could wipe the smile from ASU soccer coach Ray Leone's face Friday night.
Leone was honored in a pre-game ceremony for 20 successful years of coaching, he had a special guest coach and member of the U.S. Women's National Team, Abby Wambach, on the sidelines and his team defeated UC Santa Barbara 1-0 with a dramatic overtime goal.
"I can't even explain it (the ceremony) in words," Leone said. "It just shocked me so much. It's not really about the places I've worked so much as the people I've met, and to see it all there was pretty neat."
The ASU soccer team (5-3-1) was shut out by Gauchos goalkeeper Jamie Considine throughout regulation after firing 26 shots and being denied by several key saves.
"I give it up to that goalkeeper, who is unbelievable," Leone said. "That was the best performance against us that I've seen."
Liz Bogus finally scored on Considine on her sixth shot on goal just 3:52 into the first overtime period.
"The big thing is not to get frustrated that we haven't scored yet, especially me personally taking a million shots," Bogus said.
The Sun Devils out-shot the Gauchos 28 to 4, and kept the pressure up all game with 16 corner kicks to just 4 for UCSB.
"We just wanted to keep pushing and pushing and not let down at all," Bogus said.
ASU has now played in three consecutive overtime games and four overall this season.
"They've been there (overtime) before so we've been on all sides; tie, win, loss, and we like this one better," Leone said.
Reach the reporter at steven.bohner@asu.edu.
