The ASU women’s soccer team went into its conference opener after a weekend off, and the break seems to have paid off for the Sun Devils.
After the last non-conference game, coach Kevin Boyd said he thought a lack of energy was really hurting the team, both physically and mentally.
On Sunday, one of the first things Boyd mentioned in postgame discussion was the intensity the Sun Devils showed against Washington and Washington State.
“We got a hard-fought, well-earned win [over WSU] on the road,” Boyd said. “We were a better team this weekend than we’ve been all year.”
Going further into Pac-10 play, Boyd said as long as the team understands their potential, they should do well.
More payoffs
After the steady rain all Saturday on the UW campus in Seattle (clearly visible during the ASU-UW football game), the Huskies’ soccer field was pretty wet and soggy.
This, however, was just what the Sun Devils had prepared for last week when they held practice after a thunderstorm and a lot of rain in Tempe on Tuesday.
The ball behaves differently on wet grass, skipping where it would otherwise roll, and making passing difficult for any team from a dry climate.
But the training paid off, and while ASU did drop a 1-0 decision to the Huskies, they led UW in shots and corner kicks, and Boyd said the team had one of the best possession games he had seen all year.
Redshirt sophomore forward Sierra Cook best summed up the UW game.
“I thought we had more possession of the ball, but sometimes that just doesn’t cut it,” Cook said. “We just couldn’t put anything away.”
Bring it on home
Freshman midfielder Holland Crook, freshman defender Josie Graybeal, sophomore defender/forward Kiara Williams, freshman defender/midfielder Kaitlyn Pavlovich and Cook all hail from the state of Washington, so this past weekend was a homecoming of sorts for all of them.
Cook had a good portion of her family come out and watch the game on Sunday.
“It was really nice just to see everyone and have everyone there again supporting me,” Cook said. “It was just kind of unfortunate that we couldn’t perform for them.”
ASU’s leading scorer
Senior forward Karin Volpe’s game-winning goal against WSU was her eighth of the season and solidified her place as the top scorer for the Sun Devils.
The goal also moved her up to second in the Pac-10 for game-winning goals with four.
Stanford senior forward Christen Press is currently leading the Pac-10 with seven.
Volpe is also fifth in goals-per-game average and fourth in total goals scored.
Additional stats
As a team, ASU racked up 32 shots over the weekend, putting them fourth in the Pac-10 behind Stanford, USC, and UCLA. The 1-0 victory over WSU moved sophomore goalkeeper Alyssa Gillmore up to a tie for third in the conference with four shutouts. The Sun Devils finished with five shutouts last season.
The win against WSU was also ASU’s first win over the Cougars since the 2007 season.
Reach the reporter at egrasser@asu.edu
