Sept. 14, 2012
TUCSON, Ariz. - The Arizona State women's soccer team won its second consecutive game on Friday, defeating Loyola Marymount 3-0 during the first day of play at the Arizona Cats Classic.
Junior midfielder Holland Crook, junior forward Devin Marshall, and senior midfielder Taylor McCarter all scored for the Sun Devils (3-4-1), who had a 27-8 advantage in shots against LMU (5-3-1).
"I didn't think we were great to be honest," Sun Devil soccer head coach Kevin Boyd said. "The grade we gave ourselves at halftime was somewhere in the [C range] and so it's a passing grade, but not the grade at which we want to perform. We wanted to be better. In the second half we got a couple of goals and that decided it, but we still weren't great and we're still not where we want to be. The nice thing is to not play great and get a win with three goals."
For the Sun Devils, it's their second quality win in as many contests as they upset [then] No. 10 Pepperdine on Sunday and on Friday defeated a Loyola Marymount squad, which had a 5-1-1 record in its previous seven outings. Last weekend LMU became the first opponent that current No. 3 UCLA failed to defeat as the two teams played to a 1-1 tie.
"It's great for us," Boyd said. "We talked about what we are about. We are doing this one game at a time, trying to dig ourselves back [from 1-4-1 start]. I'm not going to get too wound up in where we are at other than how are we playing [at the moment], what are we going to play like in the next game, and can we play a little bit better."
Playing in extremely windy conditions, the Sun Devils came out on the attack right from the start and did not let up. A little more than 10 minutes into the game, ASU threatened when Crook crossed a ball to Marshall in front of the LMU goal, but Lions goalkeeper Brittany Jagger intercepted the pass before Marshall could make contact.
The scoring threat would be portent of what was to come as the Sun Devils would accumulate an overwhelming 16-3 advantage in shots on goal by game's end.
Later in the half the duo of Crook and Marshall would team up again when Crook sent a pass toward Marshall, who was breaking to the goal. Marshall, who beat two LMU defenders to the ball, gathered in Crook's pass at the 18 and sent a sliding shot into the net for her team-leading fifth goal of the season, which gave ASU a 1-0 lead.
"Devin Marshall proves that she can score on a regular basis," Boyd said. "She found something out of nothing, which was tremendous."
The Sun Devils would continue to press the attack in the second half and their aggressiveness would pay off when they drew a penalty kick in the 70th minute. Crook, who led ASU in shots on goal in both of its contests last week, was selected to take the kick and drilled it in for the first goal of her career to extend ASU's lead to 2-0.
Less than two minutes later ASU would add another goal in a sequence that started with a Sun Devil corner kick. Players from both teams went up to contest the ball, which was knocked several yards back. The ball would eventually end up in the possession of McCarter, who shook free from a defender and then one-timed a shot from the top of the 18 to score her third career goal in addition to giving the Sun Devils a 3-0 lead.
"That's great [for Taylor]," Boyd said. "She does so much for our team. Her getting in the attack and scoring goals is really not the role she plays because she is so far from goal. She is more our playmaker, the one that connects and wins a lot of balls for us. Scoring goals is rare and I'm really happy when she gets them."
Redshirt freshman goalkeeper Chandler Morris made three saves and earned her third shutout of the season. It represented the first time this season that LMU was shutout as the Lions had scored at least two goals seven times in nine games prior to Friday.
The Sun Devils return to action on Sunday (noon) when they take on Florida International in Day Two of the Cats Classic. FIU (3-3-1) lost to Arizona, 2-0, in the second game of Friday's doubleheader.