With her fifth goal the season, ASU freshman forward Nicole Douglas lifted her team to a victory in the 61st minute of a 1-0 win against Weber State at Sun Devil Soccer Stadium on Sunday.
The Sun Devils entered their final non-conference match of the season with two straight road wins.
While the heat fiercely beamed down on both teams, they battled through the first half with strong defensive walls that kept the game scoreless.
The Wildcats allowed the Sun Devils only two shot attempts, with one of them coming from sophomore midfielder Amanda Jones and the other from Douglas.
Douglas' had an opportunity to score in the 32nd minute, but the play resulted in a one against two defensive matchup from WSU that proved to be too powerful for her.
"They (WSU) were one of the most well organized and coached team's we've played so far this season," head coach Graham Winkworth said. "The way they set up is very difficult to break down in the first half. I felt that we were too impatient in trying to get to goal too quickly."
On the other side of the ball for ASU, the Sun Devils kept their defense tight, allowing WSU only three shot attempts.
ASU's offense looked to be waking up at the start of the second half with Douglas firing four shots and senior defender Jemma Purfield firing one in the first 15 minutes of action.
However, it wouldn't be until the 61st minute, with the help of an assist by Purfield, that Douglas would score the only goal of the game for the Sun Devils.
"I take on board the feedback that's given to me as a starting winger or starting left back, knowing that I can transition anyway," Purfield said. "They're pretty similar, just sometimes I get more defensive, and sometimes I got more attacking responsibility. But I know if I get moved up, I got to give us a lift."
Now that conference play is approaching, Winkworth said he is taking his coaching responsibilities game-by-game with a rigorous schedule moving forward.
"We played with a 3-5-2 (formation) on Friday night against NAU," Winkworth said. "Today was a 4-3-3 (formation and) we felt was the best for this opponent. I haven't had a good chance to look at Cal yet, so I really don't know what we are going to do next week."
ASU will look to continue their winning streak when they begin conference play at Cal on Saturday, Sept. 22 at 1 p.m. MST.
Reach the reporter at Edith.Noriega@asu.edu or follow @Noriega_Edith on Twitter.
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