The ASU women's soccer team's offense finally broke out last weekend by soundly defeating San Diego State 3-0 on Friday and Creighton 4-0 on Sunday.
The Sun Devils (6-4-0) had been shut out their previous two games despite getting many scoring opportunities, and ASU coach Kevin Boyd said he challenged his forwards in practice to finally start putting those shots away.
And they answered.
The Sun Devils fired off 21 shots as a team against the Aztecs, but this time they capitalized as all three goals were scored from the front line.
"We needed to find a way not only to create chances, but to be dangerous," Boyd said.
It took less than a minute for the scoring to begin on Friday against SDSU.
At the 55-second mark, junior defender Kylla Sjoman crossed the ball across the goal, which senior forward Courtney Crane redirected into the net for her first goal of the game.
That goal was also the fastest scored in the history of Sun Devil Soccer Stadium.
Crane got on the board again in the 51st minute when she received a pass from freshman forward Karin Volpe and dribbled the ball past SDSU goalkeeper Aubree Southwick and into the net to put the Sun Devils up 2-0.
The two goals were Crane's second and third of the season and her four points also moved her into ninth place in ASU history in career points (35).
"I was so frustrated because I felt like I played really well on Tuesday and I was just like 'I don't understand why I can't put the ball in the back of the net'," Crane said. "It feels really good to put two away tonight because I was definitely getting to the point where I was like 'What's happening'?"
The Sun Devils' final goal came from senior forward Lauren Niblett, who dribbled the ball past defenders and shot it across the goal and into the net in the 60th minute.
"First I was looking to slip Alissa [Oldenkamp] and I just kept dribbling and I heard people yell 'Shoot! Shoot!' and I didn't have a shot and so I just kept going and eventually it opened up," Niblett said.
The three goals were the second-most scored by ASU this year and the most goals San Diego State had given up so far this season.
The defense also held up their end of the bargain as they only gave up six shots, including only one in the first half.
Sophomore goalkeeper Briana Silvestri made two saves in the shutout.
The lopsided score also allowed ASU to get numerous players some game experience as 21 Sun Devils saw action in Friday's game.
"The benefit of that is [we got] to play people who have earned it by their hard work on the practice field that don't often get in the game, and we got some young players in who need to get their feet wet," Boyd said.
The domination continued against the Bluejays (5-5-0) Sunday as the Sun Devils tied their season high with four goals and shut out their opponent for the second straight game.
"[San Diego State and Creighton] are teams we should be scoring a lot of goals against and putting up shutouts against," Boyd said.
The Sun Devils jumped out on top in the sixth minute when sophomore midfielder Carly Kallas chipped the ball past the defenders and Volpe redirected it into the net.
ASU extended their lead in the 36th minute when Sjoman scored her first career goal off a direct kick.
The Sun Devils found the back of the net again in the 56th minute when freshman midfielder Alexandra Elston dropped the ball back to senior forward/midfielder Alissa Oldenkamp for a direct shot, which she put away.
Volpe got her second goal of the game in the 57th minute when Oldenkamp crossed the ball to her and she put it away.
It was Volpe's first career multi-goal game and put her back in the team lead with four goals on the season.
Volpe said she had also been feeling frustrated about not scoring lately and that it felt good to put two away against the Bluejays.
Boyd said he did not feel his defense played up to its potential despite the fact it only gave up five shots.
Silvestri made three saves in her fifth career shutout.
The seven goals were the most the Sun Devils had put up in back-to-back games since 2005.
Reach the reporter at: gina.mizell@asu.edu.
