TUCSON, Ariz. – For the second straight game the Arizona State women's soccer team dominated an opponent statistically, but came up short in the end. Jazmarie Mader scored a goal for the fifth straight game while she and her teammates accumulated a 20-8 advantage in shots. However it was San Francisco that would get the victory as it scored with 48 seconds remaining in the second overtime to come away with a 2-1 decision during the first day of play at the Arizona Cats Classic.
For the Sun Devils (3-2-1) the loss comes on the heels of a 3-1 home loss to Denver on Sunday in which they outshot the Pioneers 20-6. Combined with Friday's loss to USF (3-4), the Sun Devils have outshot the opposition a combined 40-14 in their last two games, yet have found themselves on the wrong end of a 5-2 difference in combined goals.
"It's a bit of a frustrated team because we are the aggressors, we are outplaying teams and getting more shots and we are not winning," ASU head coach Kevin Boyd said. "We have to take care of some details and have a calmer head in order to start getting the results that we should be getting."
Unlike in Sunday's loss against Denver when ASU found itself down 2-0 at the half, it was the Sun Devils who struck first on Friday after Kylie Miniefield set up Mader with a wide-open shot that she drove home to put ASU up less than two minutes into the game.
Although the Sun Devils would end taking 10 of the 11 shots the two teams combined for in the first half, Boyd felt it was in this period, and the first 30-plus minutes of the second half, where his team didn't do what it needed to in order to come away with the win.
"We score a goal early and we almost sit back and let them in the game," explained Boyd. "I want us to be significantly more fierce with our attack in that moment (after taking the lead) and get all over them and get the second goal and the third goal. Instead we are sitting back and that's not what we are trying to teach.
"Seven of our 20 shots (in the game) were on frame and 13 of them miss the whole goal and so we are not executing when we are getting our chances. We are creating them, but not executing. It's not an effort thing, but more of just a mentality of figuring out that final piece of what to do when you have an opponent down."
With the Sun Devils unable to score the goals that Boyd hoped they would and continue to build on their advantage, the Dons hung around and remained one play away from tying the game.
That play would come in the 80th minute when Kristina Krehbiel ended up with a wide-open look at the net thanks to a scramble on a corner kick. Krehbiel would score to tie the game at 1-1 and set up a whole new game.
"The first goal they got came because of an error in our back line," Boyd said. "It was a young mistake. We ended up turning it over in a really dangerous spot and it led to a corner – and the ball is going to rattle around in the box on a corner – and they got a piece of it and stuck it in. They had six corners and they scored on one. If we give them that many there is a chance they are going to score on one. That's more about what we did and did not do and we are just not taking care of the ball enough."
Neither team could get the go-ahead goal in the ensuing 10 minutes of play and for the second time this season the Sun Devils found themselves playing past the 90-minute mark.
In overtime it appeared if either team came away with the win it would be the Sun Devils as they accounted for all three corner kicks taken during extra time and spent more time attacking on USF's end of the field. Natalie Stephens took all three of ASU's shots in overtime, forcing USF goalkeeper Makayla Presgrave to make saves on two of them. Unfortunately a win for the Sun Devils on this day was not to be.
The game's deciding sequence started with just over a minute left when ASU goalkeeper Emma Malsy came charging out to break up a potentially dangerous scoring opportunity for San Francisco. The Dons would win the ensuing goal kick and would end the game when Micaela Mercado managed to get her 40-yard shot underneath the cross bar and in for the game-winner.
"Right before (the last play of the game) we let them in on a breakaway and (Malsy) cleaned it up for us and then we have the goal kick and we get scored on from 40 yards out which just can't happen," Boyd said.
Aly Moon led the team in both shots (six) and shots on goal (three). Also recording multiple shot totals were Stephens (five with three SOG), Lucy Lara (three with one SOG), Mader (two with one SOG), Jessica Raybe (two) and Adriana Orozco (two).
In the first start of her career, Malsy, a true freshman who made her debut in the second half of ASU's previous game vs. Denver, made five saves. Included among her saves was one in each half in which she timed her jump perfectly to get a hand on the ball and knock it over the crossbar. She also made a diving save in the 70th minute that came just prior to the corner kick that set up San Francisco's game-tying goal.
After the game Boyd said he told the team that it must find a way to correct the mistakes it is making that are related to a lack of experience.
"My message to the team is we are showing our inexperience and we need to grow up quicker," Boyd said. "Part of the thing we lost last year with six starters and two significant players coming off the bench was people that were calm amongst chaos and they could connect passes and technically handle the ball and put their shots on frame and we are not. We are making too many errors and that is causing us problems right now."
The Sun Devils return to action on Sunday (11 a.m. PT) when they face NIU in the second and final day of the Arizona Cats Classic.
For the Sun Devils (3-2-1) the loss comes on the heels of a 3-1 home loss to Denver on Sunday in which they outshot the Pioneers 20-6. Combined with Friday's loss to USF (3-4), the Sun Devils have outshot the opposition a combined 40-14 in their last two games, yet have found themselves on the wrong end of a 5-2 difference in combined goals.
"It's a bit of a frustrated team because we are the aggressors, we are outplaying teams and getting more shots and we are not winning," ASU head coach Kevin Boyd said. "We have to take care of some details and have a calmer head in order to start getting the results that we should be getting."
Unlike in Sunday's loss against Denver when ASU found itself down 2-0 at the half, it was the Sun Devils who struck first on Friday after Kylie Miniefield set up Mader with a wide-open shot that she drove home to put ASU up less than two minutes into the game.
Although the Sun Devils would end taking 10 of the 11 shots the two teams combined for in the first half, Boyd felt it was in this period, and the first 30-plus minutes of the second half, where his team didn't do what it needed to in order to come away with the win.
"We score a goal early and we almost sit back and let them in the game," explained Boyd. "I want us to be significantly more fierce with our attack in that moment (after taking the lead) and get all over them and get the second goal and the third goal. Instead we are sitting back and that's not what we are trying to teach.
"Seven of our 20 shots (in the game) were on frame and 13 of them miss the whole goal and so we are not executing when we are getting our chances. We are creating them, but not executing. It's not an effort thing, but more of just a mentality of figuring out that final piece of what to do when you have an opponent down."
With the Sun Devils unable to score the goals that Boyd hoped they would and continue to build on their advantage, the Dons hung around and remained one play away from tying the game.
That play would come in the 80th minute when Kristina Krehbiel ended up with a wide-open look at the net thanks to a scramble on a corner kick. Krehbiel would score to tie the game at 1-1 and set up a whole new game.
"The first goal they got came because of an error in our back line," Boyd said. "It was a young mistake. We ended up turning it over in a really dangerous spot and it led to a corner – and the ball is going to rattle around in the box on a corner – and they got a piece of it and stuck it in. They had six corners and they scored on one. If we give them that many there is a chance they are going to score on one. That's more about what we did and did not do and we are just not taking care of the ball enough."
Neither team could get the go-ahead goal in the ensuing 10 minutes of play and for the second time this season the Sun Devils found themselves playing past the 90-minute mark.
In overtime it appeared if either team came away with the win it would be the Sun Devils as they accounted for all three corner kicks taken during extra time and spent more time attacking on USF's end of the field. Natalie Stephens took all three of ASU's shots in overtime, forcing USF goalkeeper Makayla Presgrave to make saves on two of them. Unfortunately a win for the Sun Devils on this day was not to be.
The game's deciding sequence started with just over a minute left when ASU goalkeeper Emma Malsy came charging out to break up a potentially dangerous scoring opportunity for San Francisco. The Dons would win the ensuing goal kick and would end the game when Micaela Mercado managed to get her 40-yard shot underneath the cross bar and in for the game-winner.
"Right before (the last play of the game) we let them in on a breakaway and (Malsy) cleaned it up for us and then we have the goal kick and we get scored on from 40 yards out which just can't happen," Boyd said.
Aly Moon led the team in both shots (six) and shots on goal (three). Also recording multiple shot totals were Stephens (five with three SOG), Lucy Lara (three with one SOG), Mader (two with one SOG), Jessica Raybe (two) and Adriana Orozco (two).
In the first start of her career, Malsy, a true freshman who made her debut in the second half of ASU's previous game vs. Denver, made five saves. Included among her saves was one in each half in which she timed her jump perfectly to get a hand on the ball and knock it over the crossbar. She also made a diving save in the 70th minute that came just prior to the corner kick that set up San Francisco's game-tying goal.
After the game Boyd said he told the team that it must find a way to correct the mistakes it is making that are related to a lack of experience.
"My message to the team is we are showing our inexperience and we need to grow up quicker," Boyd said. "Part of the thing we lost last year with six starters and two significant players coming off the bench was people that were calm amongst chaos and they could connect passes and technically handle the ball and put their shots on frame and we are not. We are making too many errors and that is causing us problems right now."
The Sun Devils return to action on Sunday (11 a.m. PT) when they face NIU in the second and final day of the Arizona Cats Classic.