TEMPE, Ariz.- The Sun Devils (6-3-1) dropped a hard fought match to the Utah Utes, 2-0, at Sun Devil Soccer Stadium Sunday afternoon.
"I want to make sure we give a lot of credit to Utah," ASU head coach Graham Winkworth said. "They were very organized in the way they set up they came here, set a great defensive set up and once they scored the goal it was very difficult to break them down because they came even more defensive. We had to open up the game change our system."
Early in the first half, Sun Devils put together a string of scoring opportunities, but a pair of shots hit the crossbar, and one was pinned just inches over the goal-line for what would have stood as the game's first goal.
"We worked hard to create chances," Winkworth said. "We out shot both teams this weekend, but between the two goalkeepers Thursday and today, the opposition have made over 20 saves. We've definitely worked the goalkeepers and created more chances than the opposition, but the only ones that count are between the posts and unfortunately I think we've hit the post five or six times this weekend."ASU captain Jemma Purfield was one of the numerous Sun Devils to be unfortunate enough to hit the cross bar this weekend, when she blasted a ball off the front post in just the fifth- minute of Sunday's match.
In the 15th- minute freshman Alexia Delgado made a daring run through the open field for a breakaway shot attempt, but the Utah keeper prevented the go-ahead goal with a diving save that stopped the ball just a fraction of an inch before crossing the goal-line.
With time winding down in the first half Utah finally broke through with a well timed pass inside the box that was volleyed home for the game's first goal.
"It's never good allowing a goal that late in the half," said Purfield. "It's tough to bounce back from that, but we had a chance to regroup. I think we needed to come out firing and I'm not sure we came out quite as good was we wanted too or should have. That's very disappointing on our part and something we need to learn from."
Early into the second half the Utes extended their lead with a goal in the 55th- minute of the match.
With plenty of time remaining to complete the comeback, ASU threw everything they had at the Utah back-line, finishing with nine of their 19 shots on goal, but none would find the back of the net for the home side.
"Just like any game, you can't get too high when you win, but you certainly can't get too low when you lose either," Winkworth said. "We have got four of the top-20 teams in the nation back-to-back coming up, so what an awesome challenge that will be for us to bounce back. We're looking forward to it. We will wake up tomorrow, it's a new day, we'll be excited to face UCLA."
ASU will be on the road next week when they travel to Los Angeles to face No. 14 UCLA Bruins on Thursday before closing the road-stand against second-ranked USC on Sunday. Following the trip to Los Angeles, the Sun Devils will return home to face top-ranked Stanford on Saturday, Oct. 13. Fans can follow all of the action from the season by following @SunDevilSoccer on Twitter and Instagram.