Palo Alto, Calif. -- Arizona State soccer fell on the road at No. 2 Stanford, 6-0, Sunday afternoon at Laird Q. Cagan Stadium.
"It is important for us to not let one poor performance turn into multiple," head coach Graham Winkworth said. "It is important that we have the character to bounce back. We are obviously disappointed today, but we will go to work tomorrow and focus on the next couple of games."
The Sun Devils, fresh off a 1-1 draw at No. 11 California, found themselves down early as the Cardinal were able to break onto the scoreboard just five minutes into the match.
The home side would go on to add two more first half goals, to take a 3-0 lead into the halftime break.
Following the intermission, the nations' top-offense struck quickly in the second half, as Stanford's Michelle Xiao collected a low ball in the box and fired through to make it a 4-0 Stanford lead in with 40-minutes left in the match.
The Cardinal would not stop there as the team would bury two more goals in the closing minutes of the match to cap the, 6-0, Cardinal win.
"We knew going in that these couple of weeks were going to be extremely challenging," Winkworth added. "It was very important for us to get a win at home early, but then to come on the road against the No. 11 and No. 2 teams in the nation and get a point was extremely pleasing. It has taken quite a bit out of us both mentally and physically, but that is no excuse. We didn't play well today, and that is on me. Credit Stanford, there is a reason that they are No. 2 in the nation. They played fantastic and had an excellent game."
Arizona State will continue their grueling stretch of games with a pair of home matches this upcoming weekend. The home stand will begin Thursday night with a 7 p.m. match against No. 1 UCLA, before the Devils welcome in No. 7 USC on Sunday at 1 p.m. Fans can follow all of the action from the 2017 Sun Devil soccer season by following @SunDevilSoccer on Twitter.
"It is important for us to not let one poor performance turn into multiple," head coach Graham Winkworth said. "It is important that we have the character to bounce back. We are obviously disappointed today, but we will go to work tomorrow and focus on the next couple of games."
The Sun Devils, fresh off a 1-1 draw at No. 11 California, found themselves down early as the Cardinal were able to break onto the scoreboard just five minutes into the match.
The home side would go on to add two more first half goals, to take a 3-0 lead into the halftime break.
Following the intermission, the nations' top-offense struck quickly in the second half, as Stanford's Michelle Xiao collected a low ball in the box and fired through to make it a 4-0 Stanford lead in with 40-minutes left in the match.
The Cardinal would not stop there as the team would bury two more goals in the closing minutes of the match to cap the, 6-0, Cardinal win.
"We knew going in that these couple of weeks were going to be extremely challenging," Winkworth added. "It was very important for us to get a win at home early, but then to come on the road against the No. 11 and No. 2 teams in the nation and get a point was extremely pleasing. It has taken quite a bit out of us both mentally and physically, but that is no excuse. We didn't play well today, and that is on me. Credit Stanford, there is a reason that they are No. 2 in the nation. They played fantastic and had an excellent game."
Arizona State will continue their grueling stretch of games with a pair of home matches this upcoming weekend. The home stand will begin Thursday night with a 7 p.m. match against No. 1 UCLA, before the Devils welcome in No. 7 USC on Sunday at 1 p.m. Fans can follow all of the action from the 2017 Sun Devil soccer season by following @SunDevilSoccer on Twitter.