TEMPE- Ariz. – The good news for the No. 18 Sun Devil soccer team on Friday was it extended its unbeaten streak to eight games. The bad news is it was left still looking for its first Pac-12 win following a 1-1 draw against Oregon.
One week after leading top-ranked and unbeaten UCLA in the second half before settling for an eventual tie, the Sun Devils (7-1-3, 0-0-2 Pac-12) needed a late goal to extend Friday’s contest against Oregon (5-3-2, 1-0-1).
Freshman Aly Moon scored her eighth goal of the season in the 87th minute to keep the Sun Devils from coming up short in regulation.
Although it was of little consolation after the match, the Sun Devils were able to come away a tie on a night in which they did not play their best. For head coach Kevin Boyd, the message to his team throughout the week and following the game was simple: To have success in the Pac-12 – a league which had 10 of its 12 teams ranked in the top 50 of the NCAA RPI at the start of the week – you have to bring your best every game.
“The point to the team is wins are really hard to come by in this conference. You cannot show up halfway because you will not get the win and tonight was a prime example of that,” said Boyd. “(The slow start) was 100 percent on us. I thought we were bland in our warm-up. We tried to get them loose in the locker room before the game. We thought we did, but we apparently didn’t. The truth is we looked that way Tuesday and Wednesday (in practice)… I told them you only have so many games and you can’t give them away. They are precious and you can’t give them away.”
Although the Ducks had a 17-13 advantage in shots in the match, including a 5-3 advantage in shots on goal, they were not creating dangerous scoring opportunities on ASU’s end of the field.
The opportunistic Ducks would take full advantage of their best chance of the game after the referee whistled ASU for a handball inside the box in the 71st minute. Kelsey Foo was successful on the subsequent penalty kick and just like that the Ducks were up 1-0.
The Sun Devils suddenly found themselves with their backs to the wall as they had to find a way to generate a goal against a defensive-minded Oregon team, which throughout the game appeared to be playing not to give up a goal.
“Oregon was very difficult to breakdown,” explained Boyd. “They had so many numbers behind the ball and they have some size back there and so it is hard to win balls and they crowd the box a lot. I thought they did a pretty good job making it difficult for us.”
With the prospect of losing acting as the impetus, the Sun Devils did what they could to force the issue.
“We did what you have to do when you are down one, which is you go real direct and start serving the box,” said Boyd.
That’s just what the Sun Devils would do as they started to create flurries of activity around the Oregon goal. The series of forays would finally produce the equalizer with just over three minutes remaining in the game. Brianna Gonzalez served a ball from outside the box to the opposite side of the goal where Moon, who at 5-1, out jumped everyone in the area to connect with a header to tie the game.
“I knew at that point we needed a goal and so I did what I could; got up there and got my head on it,” said Moon of the goal.
For all the difficulties they had in the game, the Sun Devils nearly came away with the win as Moon got a chance in the final minute of the game, but was not able to connect.
“Aly is a great player and she is not going to be weighed down by (missing the shot in the second overtime) come Sunday,” said Boyd. “She is bothered by it now because she thinks she could have won the game. That is how great forwards are and how they think. I think that is a natural reaction for a player like her.”
Sun Devil goalkeeper Chandler Morris made four saves for the Sun Devils, who have their longest unbeaten streak (eight games/6-0-2) since the 2000 season when they won their first nine games.
Morris, defenders McKenzie Berryhill and Mckenzie Grossman and Gonzalez played all 110 minutes of Friday’s game. Also logging more than 100 minutes were Moon (105) and defender Madison Stark (104).
The Sun Devils return to action on Sunday when they host Oregon State (1 p.m.) at Sun Devil Soccer Stadium. Fans are encouraged to wear pink for the game in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. The Sun Devils will be wearing special pink jerseys for the contest. The game will be streamed live at http://pac-12.com/videos/arizona-state-university.