NEWTON, Mass. – The Arizona State women's soccer team nearly pulled off an upset of No. 25 Boston College as it led the Eagles after 60 minutes of play on Sunday. In the end they would settle for a 1-1 tie and concluded the opening weekend of play with a 1-0-1 record.
For the Sun Devils, the opening weekend of the 2016 season proved to be a successful one as they came away with a pair of results (2-1 win at Boston University on Friday and Sunday's tie at Boston College) against two teams that qualified for the NCAA Tournament last season.
"It's was a great weekend," ASU head coach Kevin Boyd said. "We get a win against a top team (Boston University), who is absolutely a playoff team. We play No. 25 Boston College, who is also a playoff team, at their place – and it's our second game of the weekend – and we battle all the way through for a tie. Did we want the win? Absolutely. Do I think is tie is fair? I do. I think it was an even game."
Jazmarie Mader's fifth career goal (first of the season) put the Sun Devils up 1-0 in the 37th minute. The goal was set up by Devyn Kelsey's free kick as the freshman defender recorded her first career assist.
"Our goal came out of a set piece, which is really nice because we had given up a set piece goal on Friday and so it was nice to get one back the other way," Boyd said. "Jaz got up on this one and got a piece of the ball and just basically made it really hard on their defender and then we got fortunate and the ball bounced in."
The lead would hold up until the 61st minute when Boston College's Lauren Berman took a cross from Gaby Carreiro and scored off a sliding shot in the box to tie the game.
"They are so dangerous down their left side where they have really talented players," Boyd explained. "I thought we contained them really well and then there was about a 10-minute stretch (in the second half) when they started feeling it and having a go at us down that side. That was when they beat us around the corner and roped a ball in and a player got goal-side of the defender and tucked it in with one touch. It was a nice goal on their part."
The goal energized the Eagles' attack. In the ensuing seven-plus minutes after scoring the equalizer, Boston College took four shots and also set up a corner kick. During that same stretch, the Sun Devils were unable to maintain possession of the ball for an extended period of time.
"I think what happened out there is normal in terms of the longer the game went on the more fatigued we got," Boyd said. "We are the ones on the road, sleeping in hotels and everything that goes with that. You could just see the weariness. We also had a battle Friday night (at Boston U), while (Boston College) was able to go deeper with a 4-1 win. I think in the second half we were gutting it out, which is a trait we have, but our quality (of play) dropped off a bit."
The Eagles outshot ASU 4-2 in the two overtimes and had the best opportunity to win the game in the final minute when Boston College's Amber Stearns' sliding shot hit the crossbar. Although the Eagles had the best shot at winning it, the Devils had moments of their own in extra time where one more connected pass could have created an opportunity to end it.
"I thought we picked it up again when we got in overtime and I love that we were able to do that," Boyd said. "We took a breath, got refocused and got our game going again. We dodged one there late off the crossbar, but I also thought we had a chance where we could have gotten one as well."
Mader and Lucy Lara tied for the team lead with four shots each. Lara's two shots on frame led the Sun Devils, who had 15 shots for the game while the Eagles rang up 26 shots. Boston College (1-0-1) also doubled up the Sun Devils in corner kicks with a 10-5 advantage.
Megan Delaney, who made her Sun Devil debut in Friday's game, turned in another strong performance on Sunday as she collected 10 saves.
Not showing up in the box score were a few instances on Sunday – as there were in Friday's game – in which great awareness of open teammates spawned long passes in an attempt to create a dangerous scoring chance. Unfortunately the perfect timing that is usually requisite for those passes to result in goals was not quite there.
"While you would love for your attack to be great this early in the season, it normally isn't," Boyd explained. "Right now we are trying to organize our defense, trying to learn how to keep the ball better, the subtleties of the touch you want and the backspin and the space you have to hit. Those are not quite there and that is very normal for this early in the season. We will continue to work on our attack all season long because attacking is the hardest part of the game. It takes so much technique, savvy and awareness of the game. That is something that will be a constant all season long."
The Sun Devils will kick off their home slate on Friday at 7 p.m. when they take on Loyola University Chicago on USA Soccer Night. Fans are encouraged to show their support for the USA by wearing red, white, and blue. The first 500 fans in attendance will receive a special 4" x 6" USA Flag.
The Sun Devils will host a total of 11 games at Sun Devil Soccer Stadium during the 2016 season with 10 regular season games and a FREE exhibition match vs. Beijing Normal University.
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