TEMPE – The good news for the Sun Devil soccer team is it remained unbeaten (3-0-3). The bad news is it did so with a tie instead of a win as the Sun Devils played Kent State to a 1-1 draw on Sunday, ASU's second tie in as many games after its game vs. Boise State on Thursday ended 0-0.
"It was a really disappointing result, really even more disappointing from a performance standpoint. I can understand if we pick up bad results while playing well, but today we picked up a bad result while playing really poorly," head coach Graham Winkworth said. "We have to look in a mirror, coaches, players, everybody, we got to look in a mirror and find a solution because that was bad today. I want to credit Kent State for a hard working performance and the goal the team had today."
HOW IT HAPPENED
First Half
- The two teams split the game's first six shots. ASU's third shot of the game produced both the first shot on goal and first goal of the contest when Maley gathered in a pass from Ashley Leonhart, turned and fired from the top of the 18 to give ASU the lead in the 15th minute.
- In the 21st minute an excellent cross from Keri Matthews to Enasia Colon nearly produced another goal but Colon's shot was high.
- In the 35th minute, Kent State had a potential scoring opportunity thwarted by Andrea Kraetzer who used her speed ward off a Kent State attacker.
- After getting off three shots in the first 11 minutes, Kent State did not get any additional looks over the last 34 minutes of the half.
Second Half
- More than 42 minutes of game time elapsed between Kent State's third and fourth shots of the game. Unfortunately for the Sun Devils, the Golden Flashes made the most of their fourth opportunity when Alanna Raimondo tied the game at 1-1 in the 53rd minute. It was only the second goal given up by ASU in the first 503 minutes of the season.
- Less than a minute later, Kent State's Giulia Giovinazzi got off another shot on target, but Pauline Nelles was in position for the save.
- Colon got free in the 72nd minute but Kent State goalkeeper Sarah Melen was in perfect position to save Colon's offering.
Noteworthy
- With the tie, the Sun Devils are now 31-7-5 in regular season, non-conference games going back to 2018, including a 17-1-5 mark since 2020. After going 4-0-2 last season, the Sun Devils are now unbeaten in their last 12 such games (7-0-5).
- ASU is currently in a four-game stretch in which it is playing three games with relatively early starts. Both of ASU's Sun Devil Classic games were 10 a.m. MST starts. Next Sunday's game vs. Texas Tech in Tucson will start at 9 a.m. MST.
- Three Sun Devils started for the first time this season: Edie Priest (M), Leonhart (F) and Florence Vaillancourt (F).
- Maley became the first Sun Devil freshman to account for multiple goals this season when she scored ASU's first goal of the game in the 15th minute.
- Maley's goal was also represented ASU's first of the season in the first half of a game.
Up Next
The Sun Devils will remain in the state of Arizona for their nest two games at the Arizona Classic in Tucson. ASU will face Utah State on Thursday (4 p.m. MST) and Texas Tech on Sunday (9 a.m. MST). ASU's last non-conference home game will take place on Fri., Sept. 15 (7 p.m.) when it hosts Colorado College.