TEMPE, Ariz. – The Arizona State women’s soccer team’s losing streak – and list of injured starters – continued to grow on Sunday following its 1-0 loss to No. 23 Cal at Sun Devil Soccer Stadium.
For the Sun Devils (4-6, 0-3 Pac-12), the loss to Cal (7-3-2, 1-2) was their sixth in succession with the latter half of those coming on their home field. The common theme of competing hard without the result to show for their efforts was once again the storyline for the Sun Devils against Cal.
Last Sunday ASU outshot Washington State 24-6, however dropped a 2-1 decision to the Cougars in the conference opener. On Friday, ASU put up a game defensive effort against Stanford as it held the nation’s fifth-ranked team scoreless for nearly 74 minutes before eventually falling 2-0. Against Cal, the Sun Devils were playing on even terms with the Bears for more than 77 minutes before the Bears’ Samantha Witteman came out of a crowded box with the ball and sent a rolling, left-footed shot against the grain of the defense and into the net for the game’s only goal.
“We outplayed Washington State in dramatic fashion and lost. We got beat by a better team Friday night and then we were very even with Cal,” ASU head coach Kevin Boyd said of ASU’s three recent home losses. “In the first half Cal absolutely outplayed us, (and in the) second half we outplayed them. (It was a 0-0) first half and then somehow we give up a goal in the second half to lose while we outplay them.”
Although Cal outshot ASU 14-11, the Sun Devils took seven of the game’s 12 shots in the second half. Sophomore forward Jessica Raybe, who had a couple of the team’s best scoring chances, nearly tied the game with a shot in the 89th minute, but her shot hit the crossbar. Raybe and Lucy Lara combined for both of ASU’s shots on goal on Sunday. Raybe led the team with four shots while senior midfielder Mackenzie Semerad and junior midfielder Lucy Lara had two each.
“The first half was not a good one for us at all, and my team knows that,” Boyd said. “I thought the second half we responded and played significantly better; we looked like a different team. I still don’t think it's perfect. If it’s perfect we are scoring goals and not giving up any. But I thought it was better in the second half. We rebounded to the conditions and started dealing with it better and getting chances.”
On Sunday the short-handed Sun Devils were once again without leading scorer Cali Farquharson, who missed her fourth consecutive game due to injury. The team was also without senior midfielder Tommi Goodman, who had played in every one of ASU’s 71 contests (59 starts) since 2012. Goodman was injured in the first half of Friday’s loss to Stanford. Then, in the 52nd minute of Sunday’s game, sophomore forward Aly Moon, attempting to catch up to a ball in the box was injured when Cal goalkeeper Emily Boyd came off her line and, while attempting to knock the ball away, collided with Moon and knocked her to the ground. Moon was tended to by medical personnel for several minutes and was responsive when she was taken for further precautionary tests.
Following the game, Boyd wondered when the string of bad luck with injuries will end. “Things just aren’t working our way. We lose Tommi Friday night, we lose Aly today, we still don’t have Cali. We’re just up against it right now. We talk about embracing adversity and our ability to come out of adversity. Well, this is it. It’s just the way it is right now and we have to work our way through it and that’s what we are trying to do. I think the first win (to end the current losing streak) will be the hard one to get and once we get that we will be like “ahhh” (sigh of relief) and then we will get going again.”
Chandler Morris made four saves for the Sun Devils, who will now begin a stretch in which they will play three straight and six of their last eight regular season contests on the road. That stretch will begin in Los Angeles where the Sun Devils will take on USC on Friday (3 p.m. PT) and UCLA on Sunday (1 p.m. PT). Both games can be seen live on Pac-12 Networks.