Sept. 17, 2010
TUCSON, Ariz. - Sophomore forward Alyssa Freeman scored the first goal of her career and sophomore goalkeeper Alyssa Gillmore made six saves as the 19th-ranked Arizona State women's soccer team remained unbeaten with a 1-0 win over Ohio State during day one of the Cats Classic hosted by the University of Arizona.
For ASU, its current 6-0-1 record marks the second-longest unbeaten streak to start the season in school history. The only ASU team to have a longer streak was the 2000 squad, which began the season 9-0-0.
"We dodged a bullet," ASU head coach Kevin Boyd said following the game. "Ohio State is a good team and they played very well. We did well to find a goal in the first half. We were playing against the current the whole game. We never quite found our game - our skillfulness, our ability to handle a ball, move off the ball, things we do well just weren't there today. We got outstanding play from our goalkeeper and our two center backs and that kept us in the game. But we did not play our brand of soccer today."
The only goal of the game came as time was winding down in the first half. Following an Ohio State foul the Sun Devils hustled to set up one last play before the half. Junior Kari Shane hit a great ball on a free kick that was saved by Buckeye goalkeeper Rachel Middleman, who then fell to the ground after knocking the ball straight up. Before Middleman could rise to her feet Freeman was there to head the ball in and give ASU a 1-0 lead with 10 seconds left in the half.
"Kari Shane put in an outstanding ball," Boyd said of the play Shane made to set up the goal. "The keeper had to work to track it and keep it from going in the goal in the first place. It hit off the crossbar came back and Freeman followed it in. It was a great follow by her."
Up until Freeman's goal, the Sun Devils did not seriously threaten Ohio State on the offensive end, a trend which was the dominant theme of the second half as the Buckeyes outshot ASU 11-9 and had five of their eight corner kicks over the last 45 minutes. However the Buckeyes were never able to find the equalizer as Gillmore made four of her six saves in the second half.
The Sun Devils return to action on Sunday when they take on UCF at 10:30 a.m. during day two of the Cats Classic in Tucson.