BOSTON – Freshman Christina Edwards scored one goal and assisted on another to help lead the Arizona State women's soccer team to a 2-1 win over Boston University on Friday night in the 2016 opener for both teams.
With the win the Sun Devils improved to 15-4-2 all time in season openers and 8-1-1 under head coach Kevin Boyd.
The Sun Devils outshot the Terriers 13-10 and had an overwhelming 8-1 advantage in corner kicks.
"It's a really good win," ASU head coach Kevin Boyd said. "Boston University is a quality team that wins its conference on a regular basis. We played a good team at their place opening day. We know that they are going to be successful down the road this season. This is a win that will pay some dividends for us.
"I was really proud of our team. I thought we played very well in the first half. We found a couple great goals. We did not play as well in the second half, but I have been saying all spring I thought our team had some guts and some grit and we showed that in the second half. We just battled and made it really tough the whole time for them and found a way to hold on to that win when the other team really turned up the pressure and so it was a good win."
ASU controlled the game for most of the first half as it made several forays into the attacking third of the field. The Sun Devils were not able to net a goal on their first four shots of the half. That would all change in the 40th minute when freshman Olivia Hernandez crossed the ball to Edwards, who drilled her shot into the left post to give ASU a 1-0 lead.
Less than three minutes later ASU would strike again. Sophomore Adriana Orozco had her initial shot thwarted by the Boston defense. The ball would take a fortuitous bounce to Edwards who quickly sent the ball back to Orozco who this time was able to take an uncontested shot and would make the most of it, knocking the ball into the right post to give ASU a 2-0 lead going into the half.
Facing a two-goal deficit, the Terriers would raise the intensity of their attack in the second half. After attempting only one shot in the first 45 minutes, Boston would take nine in the second half with six of those shots on frame.
The game would take on a different complexion in the 56th minute when Boston's McKenna Doyle took advantage of a shot right in front of the Sun Devil goal to cut ASU's lead to 2-1.
After finding its first goal of the game, Boston would continue to play with a sense of desperation, which made for some anxious moments for the Sun Devils.
On multiple occasions the Terriers would find ways to create opportunities around the Sun Devil goal. Each time the ball would teeter dangerously close to ASU's net, the Sun Devil defense would respond by turning back the Terriers. Making ASU's resilient performance on the defensive end even more impressive is the fact it three players – freshman defenders Devyn Kelsey and Hailey Zerbel and junior goalkeeper Megan Delaney – who were starting in their first ever game as Sun Devils.
Junior Jazmarie Mader led ASU with three shots on Friday night. Also recording multiple shots were junior Madison Stark (two), Edwards (two) and Orozco (two). On the defensive end Delaney made five saves, all of which came in the second half. Outside of the two goals ASU scored, senior Mckenzie Grossman has ASU's only other shot on goal.
In addition to the aforementioned freshmen and Delaney, also making her first career appearance as a Sun Devil on Friday night was redshirt freshman midfielder Kylie Miniefield, who played all 90 minutes against Boston.
The Sun Devils return to action on Sunday (1 p.m. ET/10 a.m. PT) when play at No. 25 (TopDrawerSoccer.com) Boston College. There will be no video or audio coverage of the game. Fans can follow along on Twitter (@ASUSoccer).
With the win the Sun Devils improved to 15-4-2 all time in season openers and 8-1-1 under head coach Kevin Boyd.
The Sun Devils outshot the Terriers 13-10 and had an overwhelming 8-1 advantage in corner kicks.
"It's a really good win," ASU head coach Kevin Boyd said. "Boston University is a quality team that wins its conference on a regular basis. We played a good team at their place opening day. We know that they are going to be successful down the road this season. This is a win that will pay some dividends for us.
"I was really proud of our team. I thought we played very well in the first half. We found a couple great goals. We did not play as well in the second half, but I have been saying all spring I thought our team had some guts and some grit and we showed that in the second half. We just battled and made it really tough the whole time for them and found a way to hold on to that win when the other team really turned up the pressure and so it was a good win."
ASU controlled the game for most of the first half as it made several forays into the attacking third of the field. The Sun Devils were not able to net a goal on their first four shots of the half. That would all change in the 40th minute when freshman Olivia Hernandez crossed the ball to Edwards, who drilled her shot into the left post to give ASU a 1-0 lead.
Less than three minutes later ASU would strike again. Sophomore Adriana Orozco had her initial shot thwarted by the Boston defense. The ball would take a fortuitous bounce to Edwards who quickly sent the ball back to Orozco who this time was able to take an uncontested shot and would make the most of it, knocking the ball into the right post to give ASU a 2-0 lead going into the half.
Facing a two-goal deficit, the Terriers would raise the intensity of their attack in the second half. After attempting only one shot in the first 45 minutes, Boston would take nine in the second half with six of those shots on frame.
The game would take on a different complexion in the 56th minute when Boston's McKenna Doyle took advantage of a shot right in front of the Sun Devil goal to cut ASU's lead to 2-1.
After finding its first goal of the game, Boston would continue to play with a sense of desperation, which made for some anxious moments for the Sun Devils.
On multiple occasions the Terriers would find ways to create opportunities around the Sun Devil goal. Each time the ball would teeter dangerously close to ASU's net, the Sun Devil defense would respond by turning back the Terriers. Making ASU's resilient performance on the defensive end even more impressive is the fact it three players – freshman defenders Devyn Kelsey and Hailey Zerbel and junior goalkeeper Megan Delaney – who were starting in their first ever game as Sun Devils.
Junior Jazmarie Mader led ASU with three shots on Friday night. Also recording multiple shots were junior Madison Stark (two), Edwards (two) and Orozco (two). On the defensive end Delaney made five saves, all of which came in the second half. Outside of the two goals ASU scored, senior Mckenzie Grossman has ASU's only other shot on goal.
In addition to the aforementioned freshmen and Delaney, also making her first career appearance as a Sun Devil on Friday night was redshirt freshman midfielder Kylie Miniefield, who played all 90 minutes against Boston.
The Sun Devils return to action on Sunday (1 p.m. ET/10 a.m. PT) when play at No. 25 (TopDrawerSoccer.com) Boston College. There will be no video or audio coverage of the game. Fans can follow along on Twitter (@ASUSoccer).