Nov. 9, 2007
TUCSON, Ariz. --- The Arizona State women's soccer team concluded its regular season on Friday evening with a 2-1 win over in-state rival Arizona. With the win the Sun Devils finish the regular season 10-9-1 (4-4-1 Pac-10). For ASU, the 10 wins are their most since 2003. In addition, the Sun Devils remained undefeated in 13 lifetime meetings against Arizona (12-0-1).
"It was a hotly contested game between two rivals and I was very proud of our team and how they stepped up to the challenge and fought hard the entire game," said ASU head coach Kevin Boyd. "This is a great win for our team because not only does it give us an above .500 record, but it also puts us in a position where we will be watching Monday's NCAA Selection Show thinking we have a chance to have our name called."
The Sun Devils got all the offense they would need in the first half. ASU would strike first a little more than three minutes into the game when sophomore Carly Kallas headed in a free kick off the foot of junior Kylla Sjoman. It was the third goal of the year by Kallas and the seventh assist of the season for Sjoman.
ASU would strike again at the 19-minute mark of the first half when freshman Karin Volpe took a pass from senior Alissa Oldenkamp and drilled the ball past Arizona goalkeeper Halley Brown to give ASU a 2-0 lead. For Volpe it was her team leading fifth goal of the season while Oldenkamp collected her third assist.
Arizona (6-13-1, 1-7-1 Pac-10) would cut ASU's lead in half with less than four minutes left in the first half when Jacqueline Boussard found the back of the net off a corner kick by teammate Kaity Heath.
The Sun Devils would not let the Wildcats get any closer as they shutdown Arizona's attack while almost increasing their advantage.
"We had a couple excellent chances in which we could have put another goal on the scoreboard," said Boyd. "I thought we did a great job of not letting them have anything in the second half.
The Sun Devils will now await word on whether they will be one of the teams selected to compete for the 2007 NCAA Women's College Cup. The NCAA Selection Show is Monday at 6 p.m. MT on ESPNews.