SEATTLE – Senior midfielder Whitney Kanavel scored on a penalty kick midway through the second overtime to help lift the Arizona State women’s soccer team to a 2-1 upset of No. 18 Washington on Thursday night.
It was the first Pac-12 win of the season for the Sun Devils (5-7-1, 1-4-1 Pac-12), who started the season 4-0, then lost seven straight while dealing with several injuries over the last month. Although they did not get a win on last week’s road trip to Los Angeles – a 2-1 loss at USC and a 1-1 tie at UCLA – the Sun Devils started to show flashes of the team that outscored its first four opponents 16-0. Thursday night’s win was another indicator that the team is starting to regain that form.
The Golden Goal by @ASUSoccer's Whitney Kanavel is no doubt the #12Best Moment for the #Pac12WSOC Match of the week! http://t.co/N3RYRLjCRJ
— Pac-12 Networks (@Pac12Networks) October 16, 2015
“It’s a great win, the best win we’ve had all season and we will feel like that about every win,” Sun Devil head coach Kevin Boyd said. “I’m really proud of our players. We asked them to have a lot of positive energy and believe and I’m proud that we had that and we had it for the entire game and got an overtime win.
“We pulled off a tie against UCLA (last Sunday) in a hard-fought battle that was even. And then we come here and get the win and so we are starting to believe again, which is great and if we’ll continue to do that and just stick to simple ingredients like working really hard good things will come our way.”
As if their own recent adversities were not enough, the Sun Devils had some trends working against them that were directly related to their opponent. Coming into the game ASU had not defeated the Huskies (10-3-2, 3-2-1) since 2011 and had not defeated the Huskies in Seattle since 2005. As far as the 2015 season was concerned, Washington had won all six of its home games prior to hosting ASU and had allowed more than one goal only one time in its first 14 games.
The Devils’ upset bid received a tremendous boost early on when sophomore forward Jessica Raybe took a pass from sophomore midfielder Madison Kmetko and guided a cross-like shot into the lower right pocket of the net to give ASU a 1-0 lead a little more than 11 minutes into the game. For Raybe it was the second time in as many games that she put away a goal as she scored the game-tying goal in last Sunday’s 1-1 draw at UCLA.
After Raybe’s goal the Devils continued to attack while limiting Washington’s chances as the Huskies attempted only one shot in the ensuing 10-plus minutes. As the half wore on however the Huskies started to press the attack and gradually started to have longer possessions on ASU’s end of the field. Washington’s attack helped produce four corner kicks in the first half. The Sun Devils did not allow anything to get across and by the time they earned their first corner kick of the game with under 30 seconds left in the half it appeared that at worst they would go in with a 1-0 lead.
After clearing the ball out of the danger area, the Huskies suddenly found themselves with an opportunity to counter. With the final seconds of the half ticking closer to zeros Washington’s Pascale Dumensnil took a chance on a long-range shot. Dumensil’s shot ended up having just the arc it needed to sneak its way under the cross bar and over the reach of Sun Devil goalkeeper Chandler Morris to tie the game at 1-1 with four seconds left in the half.
Boyd took in stride what could have been a deflating moment for the Devils, who had put in a lot of work to first get the lead and then maintain the advantage for all but the last four seconds of the half.
“When they got the goal at the end of the first half it was like, ‘that’s the way it has been rolling for us,’” Boyd said jokingly. “We got to halftime and said it is what it is, we are back to tied and here is what we are going to do in the second half. What I loved is we continued to work hard. We made a couple of adjustments and what I’m most proud of with our team is we told them to do something and they did it. That is what carried us to the end.”
The Sun Devils would flip the script in the second half. After getting outshot 8-3 over the course of the first 45 minutes, ASU held Washington’s attack in check in the second half as the Huskies took only two shots while the Devils took eight of their own. In addition, the Devils did not allow Washington to draw any corner kicks in the second half.
“On a field like this where the conditions are not ideal for knocking around the ball the way we like to, you have to stop playing with it in your half of the field and that’s what we did,” Boyd said of ASU’s strategy in the second half. “We abandoned our soccer in our half and played entirely in their half – or tried to, that was the goal – and we did much better in the second half and then we just continued to compete.”
Despite the big advantage in second-half shots, ASU was not able to find the go-ahead goal and the contest would eventually go into overtime. It was the second straight game the Devils found themselves playing extra time after not having a single overtime game in any of their first 11 contests.
Statistically speaking, the Huskies had the advantages in the two overtime sessions. Up until ASU’s penalty kick came about, the Huskies took the first four shots (three in the first OT and one in the second OT) and the only corner kick (second OT).
Kanavel and Raybe would team up for the game’s deciding sequence when in the second overtime. Kanavel played a ball on ASU’s side of the field to Raybe, who split two defenders in an attempt to catch up to the ball. Washington goalkeeper Megan Kufeld came off her line in an attempt to get to the ball before Raybe could play it. The ball bounced inside the box and was approaching Kufeld's hands when Raybe reached her leg out and managed to poke the ball to her left and keep it out of Kufeld’s grasp. At the same Raybe was attempting to catch up to the ball Kufeld got a hand on Raybe that impeded her path and knocked her to the ground. A foul was immediately called and Kufeld was issued a red card for fouling while being the last defender between Raybe and the goal.
A short delay would ensue as Kufeld’s replacement entered the game. During that time the Devils would have to determine who would take the penalty kick.
“I was most interested to see who was going to take the PK,” Boyd said of the situation. “That is not something we (coaches) dictate. As a player on the field I always felt like it’s something you have to want to take, you have to be confident to take it and you have to want to step up and take the ball and take that PK.”
Kanavel would be the player who stepped up for the Devils and she calmly sent her shot past Kufeld’s replacement, Sarah Shimer, for the game-winning goal.
“I thought we were playing hard and when you do that you can earn some luck,” Boyd said.
Boyd would go on to praise the performance of Raybe, who was directly responsible for two of ASU’s three goals in the last two games and set up the third by drawing the penalty kick.
“The entire team told her she was the player of the game,” Boyd said. “She got the first goal and created the second and she had an outstanding game. We love what she is doing right now.”
The Sun Devils return to action next Friday (Oct. 23) when they host Oregon State at 7 p.m. at Sun Devil Soccer Stadium. They will then conclude the weekend when they host Oregon on Senior Day (Sunday Oct. 25 at 11 a.m). Prior to the game the Sun Devil soccer program will recognize the 11 seniors who will be playing their final home game.