The ASU soccer team found out the difficulties of playing a ranked team in a hostile environment.
ASU (1-1) lost for the first time in the 2013
season after dropping a 3-1 decision to No. 19 Texas A&M;, and learned just how far they are from competing against the upper echelons of women's collegiate soccer.
Texas A&M; (2-1) imposed their will in the middle of the first half. They downed two goals in a four minute stretch against ASU after scoring one goal in their first two games of the season.
ASU coach Kevin Boyd was not pleased with his team’s performance, particularly in the first half. He said ASU was playing timid and was afraid of losing.
“We were on our heels for most of the first half,” Boyd said. “We just weren’t committing to an all-out game.”
Texas A&M; midfielder Kelley Monogue scored the first goal on a shot from top of the penalty box in the 18th minute following a throw-in.
“We had two errors,” Boyd said. “It was our center-mid getting spun and losing the player completely and we didn’t have anybody on our backline step to her to block her shot or slow her down.”
In the 21st minute, Texas A&M; forward Liz Keester put the Aggies ahead 2-0. Boyd said ASU tried to clear the ball, but the attempt bounced of Keester’s stomach, and then she put away the easy chance.
The Sun Devils had difficulties establishing their offense in the rest of the half, tabbing just four shots and one shot on goal, which occurred in the fourth minute.
Texas A&M; outshot ASU 8-4 in the first half and 4-1 on goal.
In the second half, ASU capitalized on some sloppiness from the Aggies.
Seven minutes into the half, sophomore forward Cali Farquharson stole the ball from the opposing goalie and tapped it into an empty net, pulling ASU back to a one-goal margin.
“We were pressing them and they kicked the ball back to their goalkeeper,” Boyd said. “She thought she had more space than she did, took a touch forward for some reason and Cali ran on and tackled her clearance and the keeper went down on the tackle.”
In the second half, ASU was outshot just 8-7 and the teams each had four shots on goal.
With seven minutes remaining, Texas A&M; forward Allie Bailey iced the game for the Aggies with their third goal of the game.
“As the game went we fatigued and you could just see our quality in attack start to finish,” Boyd said. “They kept getting the same type of chances, which were flip throw-ins into our box, corners, things like that.”
Reach the reporter at Justin.Janssen@asu.edu or follow him on Twitter @jjanssen11
