LOS ANGELES – Cali Farquharson scored two goals and Chandler Morris made 10 saves to lead the Sun Devil soccer team to a 2-0 win at USC on Friday.
Farquharson, the Pac-12’s leader in goals coming into the game, added her 11th and 12th of the season (31st and 32nd of her career) for the ninth multi-goal game of her career. Morris, meanwhile, came one save short of tying her career high of 11 set three weeks ago in ASU’s 1-1 tie vs. top-ranked UCLA.
For the Sun Devils (9-2-4, 2-1-3 Pac-12), Friday’s win was a much-needed one following a weekend in which they lost at Washington and tied at Washington State.
“We were better today than we have been the last two weeks,” said Sun Devil head coach Kevin Boyd. “We’ve been really consistent in terms of our energy, our effort, our commitment to defend and our competitiveness – all of that is really good. What we did today is play better soccer. We kept the ball better, moved it around and created chances.”
It took the Sun Devils less than nine minutes to get on the board and the goal came in anything but conventional fashion as Farquharson blocked USC goalkeeper Caroline Stanley’s attempt to clear the ball back into the net to give the Sun Devils a 1-0 lead.
“Those aren’t goals you commonly get, but it was great pressure from Cali to keep going after their goalkeeper and the keeper hit it off her and it went in the goal,” said Boyd of the goal. “Cali is smart and she is always reading things out there to see where we can capitalize on an opportunity. I’ve said it over and over, she is just a wonderful soccer player.”
The Trojans came out with a sense or urgency to start the second half. Their aggressive approach produced double-digits in shots and five corner kicks in the last 45 minutes. Morris and her teammates would be up to the task as the senior goalkeeper accounted for seven saves in the second half while defenders Madison Stark and Sara Tosti combined on another.
The Sun Devils were able to put a little separation between themselves and the Trojans after they were awarded a penalty kick in the 65th minute following a hard foul on Farquharson in the box. Farquharson quickly gathered herself after the foul and then calmly drilled the penalty kick to extend ASU’s advantage to 2-0.
“I thought we lost the plot a little bit in the second half,” said Boyd. “Credit USC for that because I think they really turned it up a notch in the second half and came at us and we got into a defensive mode. We were able to hold them, but we need to do a better job of keeping the ball in those moments, finding ways to get forward, hold the ball up top, be patient and create more chances.
ASU made the most of its opportunities as USC (8-5-2, 2-4) had more than twice as many shots as the Sun Devils (25-11) and a 6-4 advantage in corner kicks.
After saving seven shots in each of ASU’s contests last week, Morris once again came up big in recording her sixth complete shutout of the season and the 18th of her career.
“Once again, Chandler played outstanding,” said Boyd. “She is doing her job and she is enjoying herself and that shows in her game. We’ve said all along she is a really good shot blocker. I feel like she has been underrated for a long time and I hope she starts getting her due for being the good goalkeeper that she is.”
The Sun Devils return to action next week when they host No. 23 Cal (Friday at 7 p.m.) and No. 4 Stanford (Sunday at 1 p.m.). The team will be honoring its senior class – Jessica Domenichelli, Brianna Gonzalez, Chandler Morris and Courtney Watson – next weekend.