If Friday night was any indication of the crowds the men’s soccer club will see this season, then ASU will have to provide soccer fans with more than just three small bleachers next home game.
The east sideline was packed with ASU supporters covering the length of the field from one end to the other and the Sun Devils won their third straight as they hosted the UA Wildcats at the Sun Devil Fitness Complex on Friday night.
Prior to the match, ASU coach Eisa Shamroukh said the key to the game was pressuring UA into making mistakes early.
The Sun Devils started the first half by attacking the UA defense, which put the Wildcats on their heels. The Sun Devils' attack started three minutes into the game with a Tyler Gavin header that missed over the bar.
Only a couple minutes later, forward Ibrahima Diop had an opportunity in the box that was quickly stopped by UA.
The Wildcats then took advantage of ASU’s aggressive play, getting a shot on goal eight minutes into the game that was stopped by ASU junior goalkeeper Sam Hadley.
UA strung together a series of nice touches to get inside the box and UA forward Thomas Degeorge put the ball away just past Hadley to put UA up 1-0.
After the goal, play became more physical as the teams traded fouls resulting in each receiving a penalty card.
Shamroukh said his team knew that they just had to continue playing aggressively in the second half in order to get back in the game.
“We dug ourselves a hole," he said. "We had to come out of it (so) we made a couple of changes to our wings.”
Shamroukh said the team stuck with its aggressive play in the second half and it paid off about 53 minutes in when Diop put a shot past the UA goalkeeper to tie the game 1-1.
With momentum on its side, ASU continued creating scoring opportunities and just 12 minutes later, freshman forward Jefferson dos Santos put away another goal to give ASU a 2-1 lead.
UA looked tired and defeated in its first game of the season, as it never found its groove after taking the early lead in the first half.
The key player of the match was Diop, who scored for the second time in the game about 67 minutes in, after UA’s defense broke down in the box to give ASU the 3-1 lead.
“We knew for sure if we were leading 2-1 we still needed another goal to seal the game," Diop said, "and we were just trying to finish the game.”
Shamroukh said he was pleased with the support the team received Friday night and was glad they were able to honor the fans with a win against UA.
ASU gets one day of rest Saturday and goes right back at it against New Mexico Tech on Sunday morning at 11 a.m. at the SDFC fields.
Reach the reporter at lzazueta@asu.edu or follow him on Twitter @lorenzozazueta
