SALT LAKE CITY – The Arizona State women’s soccer team had its four-game unbeaten streak snapped on Friday night as Utah scored 71 seconds into overtime to capture a 2-1 victory.
The Sun Devils (7-8-1, 3-5-1 Pac-12) came into the game having won three straight games, including an upset of then-No. 18 Washington (2-1 in overtime) on Oct. 15.
“I thought we played fairly well and I thought Utah played well,” ASU head coach Kevin Boyd said. “It’s a tough place to play and we know that. I thought both teams had some moments. In the first half we struggled with the way they were lined up. We were trying to sort their system out and I thought in the second half we absolutely sorted it out and we started putting very good pressure on them.”
Statistically speaking the Sun Devils controlled the game as they took nearly twice as many shots as the Utes (15-8), including a 9-5 advantage in shots on goal. They were able to set up good, quality chances that on many other nights would have resulted in multiple goals. On this night, however, those shots would not result in goals thanks to an outstanding performance by Utah goalkeeper Lindsey Luke, who made eight saves in the game.
“I thought (Lindsey Luke) was outstanding,” Boyd said. “I think she made four spectacular saves on shots that you would normally expect to go in for us and they didn’t. I thought she was the player of the match.”
Sophomore Madison Stark was the first to see a would-be goal denied by Luke in the 24th minute when she dribbled up from her wide back spot before pulling up for a shot from 30 yards that appeared would have just the right trajectory to glide its way in, but Luke was able to jump up and punch it away.
In the 41st minute, sophomore Jazmarie Mader was able to slip a pass as she was approaching the end line to sophomore Aly Moon, who was trailing the play. Moon slid in for a shot attempt from eight yards out, but Luke was in the right place at the right time to save it.
After a scoreless first frame, the Sun Devils started to press even harder in the second half. ASU was able to create four scoring chances the first 16-plus minutes of the half. The first shots two were saved by Luke and the other two missed their intended target.
Finally in the 75th minute the Sun Devils were able to break through when senior Cali Farquharson’s perfectly-placed shot on a free kick at the top of the 18 found its way into the net to put the Sun Devils up 1-0. For Farquharson, who missed 4.5 games earlier this season due to injury, it was her seventh goal of the season, her second in as many games and the 41st of her career. Stark helped set up the scoring opportunity after drawing a foul while the Sun Devils were on the attack.
“It’s something that (Cali) specializes in and had been working on and she put it away really well,” Boyd said. “It was a great goal.”
The Sun Devils continued to press the attack, setting up a corner kick two minutes after Farquharson’s goal. Whitney Kanavel attempted to increase ASU’s lead, but her header off the corner kick was wide.
The Utes would get the equalizer with just over five minutes remaining in regulation when Natalie Vukic took a shot from distance that crept its way over the reach of Sun Devil goalkeeper Chandler Morris.
“When we went ahead they went into a different system – and we had just trained for this on Wednesday – and we didn’t play it the way we did in training,” Boyd explained of how Utah set up the game-tying goal. “While we were working hard, we just weren’t able to organize the way we did in training and they ended up getting one because we were just a little too loose in places.”
The Sun Devils nearly took the lead in the 90th minute when Farquharson raced down the field, beat two defenders and found enough space to attempt a left-footed shot, but Luke was able to get both her hands on it to push it high. The Sun Devils were not able to create a scoring opportunity on the ensuing corner kick and the game went to overtime.
“That’s quintessential Cali,” Boyd said of Farquharson’s ability to create the shot for herself in the final minute. “She beats two players running into the box and she tries to hit it in the low back post. She kind of mishit it in the middle and the keeper saved it.”
The Utes were able to set up a corner kick a minute into overtime and would win it when Megan Trabert went up for a header on the corner kick that was sent to the back post and knocked it into the top left corner of the net.
“They had a ball they served that we didn’t clear properly and it goes over the end line (to set up the corner kick) and then they serve a really good ball to the back post and one of their players gets over one of our players and heads it in. You let them have a set piece in overtime and that’s what can happen.”
Farquharson (5), senior McKenzie Berryhill (3) and senior Alyssa Martinez (2) combined for 10 of ASU’s 15 shots in the game while Morris made three saves.
The Sun Devils close out their weekend road trip on Sunday (2 p.m. MT) when they play at Colorado in a game that will be televised live by Pac-12 Networks.