Senior midfielder Alexandra Elston scored both goals as the ASU women’s soccer team earned a hard-fought 2-1 win over UA in front of a record crowd Friday night.
Both goals came off of set pieces for the Sun Devils (8-3-2) who looked strong on both offense and defense during a game that got more physical the longer it went. UA had won the last two meetings, and Elston said the game held a lot of importance for her.
“I was not going to go out with a loss to [UA],” Elston said. “We came out here and we knew we were going to win, and we ended up putting it away. It’s a great feeling scoring two goals and having the winning goal.”
Though Elston acknowledged the rivalry aspect of the meeting, she put greater emphasis on the fact that it was a conference game.
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“Our biggest goal is to do well in the Pac-10, and so despite this being a rivalry, it was still a game that we needed to win in order to get into the playoffs at the end of the year,” Elston said.
ASU coach Kevin Boyd said he was happy with the team’s overall performance, although he would have liked to see a few more goals.
“I felt we should have scored a couple more,” Boyd said. “We’ve got to keep working on getting behind teams and breaking them down better.”
Key for ASU all game was the strength of its defense, Boyd said, particularly the play of freshman defender/midfielder Kaitlyn Pavlovich.
“I thought [Pavlovich], especially in the second half, was exceptional,” Boyd said. “I mean she won every single ball that got near her, and that’s what you want from a big center back.”
Pavlovich credited the whole defense for keeping the Wildcats at bay.
“I think we just stayed organized back there, communicating the whole time,” Pavlovich said. “Being able to shut them down, it just felt good to know that we had control of the game.”
The Sun Devils opened the game strong, and forced UA to play in their own half for most of the first 30 minutes. Senior forwards Karin Volpe and Jill Shoquist combined for four of ASU’s seven shots in the first half, and forced UA junior goalkeeper Ashley Jett to make a few acrobatic saves.
Elston would open the scoring in the 29th minute off a corner kick from freshman midfielder Holland Crook. Elston actually headed the ball once in the air before heading it again into the UA net for her third goal of the season.
Elston would threaten again just five minutes later when her shot led to a spectacular diving save by Jett, but the first half would come to a close with the Sun Devils leading 1-0.
The second half was immediately more physical than the first half, as the Wildcats began taking chances on tackles and putting pressure on ASU all over the field. UA was whistled for 13 fouls in the second half, compared to two in the first, including three yellow cards.
Pavlovich said the physical play got a little out of hand towards the end of the game.
“We’re lucky nobody got hurt,” Pavlovich said. “But that’s soccer for you, especially in a big game like that.”
Both sides had chances early in the half, but UA would tie the game in the 66th minute when the ball came out of a scramble in the ASU box right to sophomore defender Kirstyn Magyar, who unleashed a shot that went in off the right post. ASU sophomore goalkeeper Alyssa Gillmore had no chance at a save.
However, the score wouldn’t stay tied for long. In the 74th minute, ASU junior defender Kari Shane took a free kick from about 15 yards outside the 18-yard box, but the kick was ruled to have gone off the hand of a Wildcat defender just a yard outside the box.
On the ensuing free kick, Elston lined up her shot and drove the ball into the top left corner of the goal for her second score of the game and the eventual winning goal.
The crowd of 1,513 set an ASU attendance record for women’s soccer.
Reach the reporter at egrasser@asu.edu
