TEMPE, Ariz. - Despite allowing only two shots on goal and taking twice as many shots (13-6), the Arizona State women's soccer team came up short in its 2012 home opener, losing to Houston, 1-0, on the first day of the Sun Devil Desert Classic.
It appeared the Sun Devils (1-4-1) would be going to overtime for the second time in as many games as they found themselves engaged in a scoreless tie with Houston (3-3) as the contest neared the completion of 87 minutes. It was then - at the 86:51 mark - that the official's whistle brought play to a halt to call a handball in the box on ASU, setting the Cougars up with a penalty kick. Houston junior midfielder Jasmine Martinez would score on the kick, giving the Cougars the 1-0 win.
For the Sun Devils, the loss was a tough one after controlling the action for nearly the entire first half while holding Houston's attack in check for much of the game.
"We had a good first half, but we didn't create enough in the final third [of the field]. When we did get the chances we really didn't do much with them," ASU head coach Kevin Boyd said. "When you get that many chances at some point you have to put them away because the longer you let a team stay in the game, the more they feel they may be able to get one in and they got us on a [penalty kick] with three minutes left in the game."
Although they were playing without two starters - junior forward Devin Marshall, who is tied for the team lead in goals (3), and freshman defender Christina Schedel - the Sun Devils came out and dominated the action on both ends of the field. Defensively, the Sun Devils did not even yield a shot in the first half, while on the offensive end they had several opportunities - four of their six shots in the first half were on goal - but were unable to turn them into goals.
The shots would even out in the second half (ASU held a slight 7-6 edge) as the Sun Devils found themselves unable to create the same scoring opportunities they had in the first half.
"My disappointment in the second half is we didn't play the same way that we did in the first half," Boyd said. "I know we didn't score in the first half, but we were all over them and you knew [that a goal was coming]. The second half didn't feel like that."
Junior midfielder Holland Crook led the Sun Devils with five shots. Crook was one of six Sun Devils - freshman defender Nina Brueggemann, freshman forward Cali Farquharson, senior midfielder Taylor McCarter, senior forward Miah Mollay and junior defender Jasmine Roth - who registered a shot on goal.
The Sun Devils return to action on Sunday when they host No. 10 Pepperdine at 1:30 p.m. Pepperdine defeated Arizona, 2-1, in the first game of Friday's doubleheader. Arizona will face Houston in Sunday's first game at 11 a.m.