TEMPE, Ariz. – Aly Moon scored two goals while Brianna Gonzalez and Whitney Kanavel each scored the first goal of their respective careers to lead the Sun Devil soccer team to a 4-2 win over Northern Arizona in the first round of the 2014 NCAA Women’s Soccer Tournament.
With the win the Sun Devils (12-5-4) advance to next week’s second round in Charlottesville, Virginia, where they will face the University of Kentucky on Friday at 3 p.m. ET/1 p.m. MT.
“I thought it was a great game and I'm certainly proud of my team. I thought we played great and found ways to get the win,” Sun Devil head coach Kevin Boyd said. "Congrats to NAU. They had a great, successful tournament run of their own. I thought they gave us quite a game. I thought it was very close.”
Before the school record crowd of 2,067 could get settled, the Sun Devils had scored the game’s first goal as Moon, camped out around the six, redirected a shot from Madison Stark to give ASU a 1 -0 lead 25 seconds into the game.
Less than five minutes later Moon was once again in the right place at the right time as she got a foot on a cross from teammate Cali Farquharson and sent the ball into the back of the net to put ASU up 2-0.
"I thought it was an outstanding start for us,” Boyd said of the two goals. “I wanted us to keep our foot on the gas a little bit more than that. We thought we let up just a touch, but you could also say that NAU responded."
NAU’s response would come in the 20th minute when the Lumberjacks’ leading goal scorer Haley Wingender found herself with no defenders in front of her and fired a shot from about 35 yards out and into the goal to cut ASU’s lead in half, 2-1.
After 20-plus minutes of scoreless action, the Sun Devils would answer with a pair of goals on either side of the intermission to extend their lead to 4-1.
Gonzalez started the scoring flurry in the 42nd minute as she and Larisa Staub played a give and go causing split-second confusion in NAU’s defense and leaving Gonzalez with an open look that enabled her to give ASU a 3-1 lead at the half.
Kanavel would extend ASU’s lead to 4-1 in the 47th minute when Moon dribbled inside the 18, attracting the attention of the NAU defense, then left a pass for Kanavel, who blasted a shot into the far right post for her first career goal.
Cierra Gamble would add a goal for the Lumberjacks in the 64th minute to cut the deficit to 4-2, but NAU would get no closer as the Sun Devils advanced to the second round for the first time since the 2003 season.