Sunday afternoon came and it was over.
With two weeks remaining in its season, the Sun Devil soccer team had aimed to win half of its remaining games. That, of course, was to further the team’s goal of advancing to the NCAA playoffs.
Instead, ASU (8-8-4, 2-6-1 Pac-10) ended its regular season with two overtime losses on the road against Washington (14-5-1, 5-3-1 Pac-10) and No. 24 Washington State (10-5-5, 4-3-2 Pac-10).
Now the squads’ postseason chances, while not completely ruled out, are bleak.
Still, ASU coach Kevin Boyd acknowledges the strength of his team.
“This has been a very challenging year for us with injuries, which contributed to lack of depth on a team that was very young to begin with,” he said Sunday. “With all that, we still had a fighting chance to make it into the playoffs at the end of the season, which is remarkable.
“We showed a lot of character in a situation where a lot of other teams might have folded long before.”
In Friday night’s game against UW, the Sun Devils jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead. Midway through the first half, an assist from sophomore midfielder Alexandra Elston sparked sophomore forward Karin Volpe’s ninth goal of the season.
Ten minutes later, the Huskies came back to tie the score at 1-1.
The game remained even throughout the second half, but was decided less than a minute into the first overtime period when a foul was called on the Sun Devils.
UW’s junior forward Veronica Perez nailed a penalty kick to clinch her team’s win, 2-1.
Boyd said UW’s advantage in shots on goal, 26-8, did not illustrate the game’s competitiveness.
"This was an unfortunate way for the game to be decided," Boyd said Friday. "As a whole, this game was close the entire way.”
Sunday yielded similar results, as the Sun Devils fell to WSU 1-0.
Though the Cougars outshot the Sun Devils 17-11, the score stayed even throughout regulation.
“By the end, it was a very even game,” Boyd said. “In terms of great scoring chances, it was pretty much close to even. We played hard and I thought the team gave it their best out there.”
Junior goalkeeper Briana Silvestri had eight saves, but her efforts weren’t enough to secure the victory.
WSU junior Elysse Van Leer scored her fourth game-winning goal of the season to finish off ASU in the second overtime period.
Reach the reporter at emiley.darling@asu.edu.
