The ASU women's soccer team came away with two wins on the road last weekend as it beat Southern Methodist University, 4-1, on Friday and Texas Christian University, 2-0, on Sunday.
It was the Sun Devils' (4-2-0) first weekend sweep of the season, and the team is now riding a three-game winning streak.
The Sun Devils used a huge second half to overcome an early 1-0 deficit and hand the Mustangs (2-1-1) their first loss of the season.
SMU jumped out to the lead in the first minute of play when senior defender Kimber Bailey connected on a penalty kick.
"We fouled somebody in the box in a dumb fashion that we shouldn't be doing," ASU coach Kevin Boyd said. "We have to stop doing that because it puts us behind and it's hard to come back from that and it gives the other team energy and momentum."
That would be the only score of the first half as the Sun Devil offense could not find the back of the net and went into the locker room trailing 1-0.
That all changed in the second half when the Sun Devils exploded on offense and scored four unanswered goals to get the comeback win.
"We had a little bit more of a passionate conversation than normal at halftime," Boyd said.
Sophomore midfielder Carly Kallas led the way and got the scoring started for the Sun Devils in the 48th minute of play when she found a corner kick by senior Kyleyn Felts and headed it into the back of the net to tie the score at one.
Kallas' head then broke the tie in the 70th minute when she scored off a free kick from junior defender Kylla Sjoman.
"We challenged [Kallas] at halftime to try to put one away and get her shot on goal and she got two goals for us, so it was a nice response from her," Boyd said.
The goals were the first two of season for Kallas, while Felts' and Sjoman's assists were their firsts of the year.
The goals kept coming for the Sun Devils when senior forward Courtney Crane intercepted an attempted clearance by SMU junior goalkeeper Ashley Gunter and scored her first goal of the season.
The final goal of the game came from senior midfielder Alissa Oldenkamp off a pass from freshman forward Karin Volpe.
"The team responded extremely well," Boyd said. "That was by far the most explosive we've been all year and you could tell by the way we were attacking we were focused on getting goals."
Oldenkamp's goal and Volpe's assist were both their firsts of the season.
The Sun Devil defense also turned it up in the second half as it did not allow the Mustangs to record a single shot.
"It's all a matter of an organization," Boyd said. "When we move as a cohesive unit, we're very good and we make it extremely difficult for other teams to break us down."
Sophomore goalkeeper Briana Silvestri recorded two saves in the third win of her Sun Devil career.
Overall, the Sun Devils recorded 11 shots to SMU's three while recording five corner kicks to the Mustangs' zero.
The combination of good offense and defense continued on Sunday, as the Sun Devils shut out TCU, 2-0.
The Sun Devils' first goal came from senior Kyleyn Felts off a corner kick in the 31st minute of play. It was Felts' first goal of the season.
The second goal for the Sun Devils came in the second half when senior defender Lauren Niblett found a pass from sophomore forward Dante Parea and deflected it off a defender and into the back of the net.
That goal would be the safety net for the Sun Devils as the defense did not allow the Horned Frogs to score and sophomore goalkeeper Briana Silvestri had two saves in her third career shut out.
The Sun Devils dominated on the stat sheet once again as they recorded 25 shots to TCU's five and had five corner kicks to the Horned Frogs' two.
"One of the traits I like about this team is that they love to attack the goal," Boyd said. "We need to try to make our chances more dangerous, but that will come with time as we're playing and as we're learning."
Reach the reporter at gina.mizell@asu.edu
