Berkeley, Calif. -- Despite getting off to a fast start on the road, the Arizona State soccer team fell, 2-1, to No. 22 Cal at Edwards Stadium Sunday afternoon.
ASU got their offense off to a quick start as senior Christina Edwards received a perfectly placed free kick, off the foot of junior Olive Jones, in the box to tally the game's first goal in just the first minute of play.
Shortly after, ASU found themselves on the attack again, this time firing a pair of shots from just in front of the net, but the talented Golden Bear keeper was there to turn the shots away and keep the score at 1-0.
With a 1-0 lead in hand, the Sun Devil defense got to work, holding the Cal offense scoreless for 41 minutes, before the Cal attack would finally breakthrough in the 42nd minute of play, to tie the game going into the halftime break.
As the second half got underway, the Golden Bears started to push the pressure, earning a corner kick in just the third minute of the half. Fortunately for the maroon and gold, freshman keeper Giulia Cascapera and the ASU defense were more than up to the task, thwarting a handful of early attacks in the game's final 45 minutes of play.
The 1-1 tie would hold until the 76th minute when the Bear's would push forward again and force a foul in the box setting up a penalty kick opportunity. Senior Mia Corbin would cash in on the opportunity to push the score to 2-1.
With neither team able to break through again in the final 14 minutes of play, the game would go final with Cal escaping with a one-goal victory.
The Sun Devils will be back in action to close out the 2019 regular-season with a trip to Tucson to face Arizona on Friday, Nov. 8. Kickoff in the season finale is set for 7:00 p.m. MST and will be broadcast live on the Pac-12 Network. Fans can follow all of the action from the remainder of the 2019 season by following @SunDevilSoccer on Twitter and Instagram.
A Word With Winkworth...
On the team's performance in the game;
"I think we had our best week of training all season this week. The work-rate and the effort, even in games, this has been our most positive week outside of the results on the field. The culture, the passion, the comradery, it has been excellent. It has been a very positive week in that sense. This is certainly a great foundation for us as we move forward."
On playing two completely different styles of soccer on the road in a single weekend, especially with the youth of the team;
"To completely change our plan from one game to another is extremely difficult, especially with the inexperience we have right now. It is something that is costing us goals on both ends of the pitch, but I think we have to look at these games as a learning opportunity for the ladies because they are working extremely hard. I have told the team that it is okay to make errors. We need to be brave and we need to be learning from those. I think the mistakes that we are making right now are character building, and I think we have certainly had opportunities to build that character this season."
On the Sun Devil offense getting things started early;
"Olive Jones put a nice ball into the box on the free kick and Tina is one of the best players in the air. She is fantastic in the air and she got her head on it and it was an excellent goal. what really hurt us was having to take her out. She took a knock about 20 minutes into the match and wasn't able to stay in the match. Both of Cal's goals came from that side of the pitch, so that was a little disappointing. I can't fault the ladies' efforts in that. We called on a midfield player in Isabel Dehakiz who has played that role at times for us in the past. She is a great player, but she got beat by a little bit of pace for that first goal, but that was right where Tina would have been, and that second goal came from down that side of the pitch as well. It was great for her to score a goal, but it hurt that we lost her for the remainder of the match."
On the events leading to the penalty kick;
"I think Dai Williams has been wonderful all season long. She has an amazing attitude and has been wonderful for team chemistry. As I said, she is like any other young player who needs to make errors to improve, and I think in that respect she has had a tough weekend. She is working extremely hard, but a few mistakes have led to a couple of goals this weekend for the opposing teams. She has got to make a better decision in the penalty area to stay on her feet and on the right side of the attacking player, but I do not want to fault her in today's result, because she has been incredible for us all year long. She will learn from today, and be ready for the next game."