From the start of the season, the goal for ASU women’s soccer team was to make the NCAA tournament for the second year in a row.
The Sun Devils, who finished 9-8-3, accomplished that goal, despite an up-and-down season that had both flashes of brilliance from a youthful squad and some frustrating losses in the second half of the season.
But in all, this team was an improvement from last year’s squad and a huge step forward, ASU coach Kevin Boyd said.
“We did it with an extremely young team,” Boyd said. “Being in [the tournament] twice I hope cements the mentality that we belong there every year.
“I believe we’re going to be better next year, and we were better this year than we were a year ago.”
Senior forward Jill Shoquist said that she was really impressed by the way the younger players held their own during the season.
“I’m definitely proud of them, and I think they’re going to be there the next couple years as well,” Shoquist said.
ASU began the year hopeful but wary. After making the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2003 last season, the team was looking to improve in Pac-10 play and make a repeat appearance. But at the same, Boyd said several times that it was a young team that had a lot of work to do, with a roster that boasted 11 true freshmen.
The season got off to a tremendous start for the youthful Sun Devils, who went 6-0-1 in the first seven games, including a draw with then-No. 19 South Carolina and a 5-0 demolition of Nebraska.
All this seemed to signal great things to come for ASU, who finished 7th in the Pac-10 last year. But the season started to go downhill for the Sun Devils during a weekend trip to Tucson in mid-September. The squad pulled out a 1-0 win during the Friday game, but was upset 5-0 by Central Florida that Sunday in game with few offensive threats for ASU.
The defense would slowly improve over the remainder of the season, but the offense never resurfaced, going 11 games without scoring a goal in the run of play, meaning the four goals they did score during that period were all from set plays, like corner kicks and free kicks.
Throughout that stretch, Boyd said that it was mostly youthful mistakes and a lack of finishing that led to six losses. Several games, including a 2-0 loss to Oregon, saw ASU dominate the game and take a large lead in shots on goal, but fail to pull out the win.
However, the sterling early season record and key wins against UA and Southern California sent the Sun Devils to the tournament, something that made senior midfielder Alexandra Elston very proud.
“Our goal was to make it to the playoffs, and we came out and made it in,” Elston said. “With such a young team it was kind of hard, but I think we did a really good job of coming together.”
Freshman forward Devin Marshall said the conference record (3-4-1) was not reflective of the team overall.
“We definitely improved from the beginning of the season to the end of the season,” Marshall said.
After taking a one-goal lead in the first round of the tournament, ASU would give up two goals in the second half and get knocked out by UC Irvine.
Senior forward Karin Volpe led the team in scoring for the season, finishing with nine goals and one assist, including a hat trick against Nebraska.
“We had an awesome year, and we played as hard as we could,” Elston said.
Reach the reporter at egrasser@asu.edu
