TEMPE, Ariz. – The Arizona State women's soccer team came through with a determined, spirited effort against sixth-ranked USC, but came up short in its bid to upset the Trojans, who scored both of their goals in the second half to come away with a 2-0 win.
The game was nearly even from a statistical perspective as the Trojans (11-3, 5-1) had a slight 11-9 edge in shots over the Sun Devils (6-6-2, 1-4-1 Pac-12) while both teams had five shots on goal.
Larisa Staub, Aly Moon and Christina Edwards led ASU with two shots each. Also recording shots were Madison Stark, Lucy Lara and Natalie Stephens.
The contest was a stalemate for nearly 60 minutes as the Sun Devils did a great job defending the Trojans, who came into the game 25th in the nation and leading the Pac-12 in scoring offense. On several instances ASU disrupted USC's attack by preventing the Trojans from connecting passes around the goal that would have led to dangerous scoring opportunities.
"I thought we played really well – the first half specifically – and I thought our team spirit was excellent," ASU head coach Kevin Boyd said. "I thought we played hard. Our defending was very good in the first half. We kept the ball and tried to create chances. I didn't think we sustained that in the second half. We stopped doing some of the things that we had planned on doing in terms of how we were organized defensively and we didn't keep the ball very much in the attack."
The Trojans, who scored three or more goals in four of their first five Pac-12 games, were able to take advantage of a couple openings against a Sun Devil team that found itself on the defensive more often as the game wore on. USC used great passing to create its first goal in the 58th minute as Leah Pruitt crossed the ball to Katie Johnson who drilled her shot in from the six to give USC a 1-0 lead.
The Trojans would score their second goal in the 76th minute when Savannah Levin's shot from the top of the 18 found the back of the net.
"There is no getting around it, (USC is) good and it's hard when you're chasing like that, when you don't have as much of the ball," Boyd said. "You do an awful lot of work on defense and we fatigued a little bit. It wasn't a lack of effort by any means. As soon as we did that, things opened up and they took advantage of it."
Coming off a difficult loss at Washington State on Sunday, Boyd said he was pleased by the response of the team. And although the Sun Devils lost to both UCLA and USC by 2-0 scores, Boyd said he noticed a positive difference in the team's mentality in the two contests, which were both against two of the nation's best teams.
"After we were real unhappy with the result Sunday at Washington State, coming back and putting together a performance like this against a top team (is a positive). The last time we played a real top team, UCLA (on Sept. 22), for whatever reason we got nervous in the first half. We did the exact opposite in this game and I love that. That shows growth in our players. We know we have a lot of new players that are getting significant time and for them to have that growth and respond this way to a top team is really what we want."
Kylie Miniefield, Devyn Kelsey, Mckenzie Grossman Taylor Coon and Megan Delaney, who all played a role in helping hold USC's offense in check for much of the game, played the full 90 minutes. Delaney made three saves in her second consecutive start.
As has been the case throughout most of Pac-12 play, the Sun Devils were once again beset by bad luck on the injury front as they played Saturday's game without Jazmarie Mader, who leads the team with eight goals (tied for third in the Pac-12). Also missing time because of injury was Lara, who had started every game in the Sun Devil midfield until Saturday and ended up playing 23 minutes.
ASU's active career leader in goals and points, Moon returned to action after having to miss ASU's game at Washington State. She had arguably ASU's most dangerous opportunity of the night when her shot in the 77th minute was just wide.
Because of health issues, Moon (16 career goals) and Mader (12 career goals) have been on the field at the same time for only one of ASU's six Pac-12 contests, the league opener at UCLA on Sept. 22.
Saturday's game was played in front of a season-high crowd of 1,074, who came out to help support Sun Devil Soccer's annual Pink Game in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
The Sun Devils will take their last road trip of the regular season next week when they travel to the Pacific Northwest for the second time in three weeks for games at Oregon State (Thursday at 7 p.m. PT) and at Oregon (Sunday at 1 p.m.).
The game was nearly even from a statistical perspective as the Trojans (11-3, 5-1) had a slight 11-9 edge in shots over the Sun Devils (6-6-2, 1-4-1 Pac-12) while both teams had five shots on goal.
Larisa Staub, Aly Moon and Christina Edwards led ASU with two shots each. Also recording shots were Madison Stark, Lucy Lara and Natalie Stephens.
The contest was a stalemate for nearly 60 minutes as the Sun Devils did a great job defending the Trojans, who came into the game 25th in the nation and leading the Pac-12 in scoring offense. On several instances ASU disrupted USC's attack by preventing the Trojans from connecting passes around the goal that would have led to dangerous scoring opportunities.
"I thought we played really well – the first half specifically – and I thought our team spirit was excellent," ASU head coach Kevin Boyd said. "I thought we played hard. Our defending was very good in the first half. We kept the ball and tried to create chances. I didn't think we sustained that in the second half. We stopped doing some of the things that we had planned on doing in terms of how we were organized defensively and we didn't keep the ball very much in the attack."
The Trojans, who scored three or more goals in four of their first five Pac-12 games, were able to take advantage of a couple openings against a Sun Devil team that found itself on the defensive more often as the game wore on. USC used great passing to create its first goal in the 58th minute as Leah Pruitt crossed the ball to Katie Johnson who drilled her shot in from the six to give USC a 1-0 lead.
The Trojans would score their second goal in the 76th minute when Savannah Levin's shot from the top of the 18 found the back of the net.
"There is no getting around it, (USC is) good and it's hard when you're chasing like that, when you don't have as much of the ball," Boyd said. "You do an awful lot of work on defense and we fatigued a little bit. It wasn't a lack of effort by any means. As soon as we did that, things opened up and they took advantage of it."
Coming off a difficult loss at Washington State on Sunday, Boyd said he was pleased by the response of the team. And although the Sun Devils lost to both UCLA and USC by 2-0 scores, Boyd said he noticed a positive difference in the team's mentality in the two contests, which were both against two of the nation's best teams.
"After we were real unhappy with the result Sunday at Washington State, coming back and putting together a performance like this against a top team (is a positive). The last time we played a real top team, UCLA (on Sept. 22), for whatever reason we got nervous in the first half. We did the exact opposite in this game and I love that. That shows growth in our players. We know we have a lot of new players that are getting significant time and for them to have that growth and respond this way to a top team is really what we want."
Kylie Miniefield, Devyn Kelsey, Mckenzie Grossman Taylor Coon and Megan Delaney, who all played a role in helping hold USC's offense in check for much of the game, played the full 90 minutes. Delaney made three saves in her second consecutive start.
As has been the case throughout most of Pac-12 play, the Sun Devils were once again beset by bad luck on the injury front as they played Saturday's game without Jazmarie Mader, who leads the team with eight goals (tied for third in the Pac-12). Also missing time because of injury was Lara, who had started every game in the Sun Devil midfield until Saturday and ended up playing 23 minutes.
ASU's active career leader in goals and points, Moon returned to action after having to miss ASU's game at Washington State. She had arguably ASU's most dangerous opportunity of the night when her shot in the 77th minute was just wide.
Because of health issues, Moon (16 career goals) and Mader (12 career goals) have been on the field at the same time for only one of ASU's six Pac-12 contests, the league opener at UCLA on Sept. 22.
Saturday's game was played in front of a season-high crowd of 1,074, who came out to help support Sun Devil Soccer's annual Pink Game in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
The Sun Devils will take their last road trip of the regular season next week when they travel to the Pacific Northwest for the second time in three weeks for games at Oregon State (Thursday at 7 p.m. PT) and at Oregon (Sunday at 1 p.m.).