After another game with no goals, the frustrations continue to build for the ASU women's soccer team.
ASU (8-7-1, 3-4-1 Pac-12) was shutout for the fourth consecutive game, losing 1-0 to Washington State (11-3-3, 4-3-1 Pac-12) at home on Sunday.
ASU’s leading scorer, sophomore forward Cali Farquharson, hasn’t scored in the team’s last nine games after scoring nine goals in the first seven games.
“Frustrating is a word for everybody,” ASU coach Kevin Boyd said. “I know Cali is extremely frustrated, and unfortunately, she’s now trying to force it to happen. She’s doing too much. She’s trying to over-dribble.”
The scoring droughts come despite a myriad of opportunities. ASU took 18 shots on Sunday, and 44 on the weekend, and still didn’t score.
“We’re in a drought, there’s no doubt about it,” Boyd said. "I was hoping today was the day we were going to come out of it, but again, if you’re not finishing on frame you don’t have a chance at scoring. So if 12 of our 18 shots miss the goal then it was 12 wasted chances right there.”
Early in the game, ASU had some of its best looks at the goal. Farquharson had two promising opportunities in the first 10 minutes, but pushed the ball just wide right of the goal.
“I’m trying everything I can,” Farquharson said. “It’s not like I wasn’t getting shots.”
Making matters worse for Farquharson was that WSU’s lone goal came off a Farquharson turnover at midfield.
WSU senior forward Micaela Castain plucked the ball away from Farquharson, and passed to a wide-open Cara Wegner on the near side of the field.
Wegner’s open and tricky shot went in the goal in the 27th minute. The shot landed just below the crossbar, and just above redshirt sophomore goalie Chandler Morris’s reach.
“They caught us in a counter in the first half coming down that right side,” Boyd said. “We were a little out of position because of the counter. They found a wide-open player who hit a looping shot to the far post. It was just one of those floater goals, it goes over the keeper and into the back post.”
In the second half, ASU took just six shots and only one went on frame. The Sun Devils were actually a little fortunate the Cougars didn’t score in the second half.
“The second half, we started slow and we gave them two really good chances that they probably should have scored (on)," Boyd said, "and I didn’t think we created enough.”
ASU’s last chance came on a free kick in the 90th minute. Senior defender Kaitlyn Pavlovich’s header shot on the set piece went high with 12 seconds remaining and time ran out on the Sun Devils.
Reach the reporter at justin.janssen@asu.edu or follow him on Twitter @jjanssen11
