A strong second-half surge gives ASU Women’s Soccer 2-0 win over Grambling State

(Photo credit: Kendall Makuta/WCSN)

TEMPE – In the 55th-minute of the Second half Arizona State women’s soccer junior forward Enasia Colon ripped a shot from the right side of the box against Grambling State. Similarly to the past three halves of soccer ASU had played at home, the shot was blocked. Goals were hard to come by.

What was different this time around, than previously, was what happened next. Senior forward Keri Matthews committed extra effort to run onto the now-bouncing ball in the box and scored to put the Sun Devils on the score sheet at home for the first time since before classes had even started and fans were in the stands.

ASU experienced a slow start Thursday night like they had for much of the season. They had entered halftime tied in their last three games including this Grambling State matchup. Matthews made sure the second half was different this time around.

“It was a good win,” Matthews said. “It was nice to be back with everyone and back from school and together it was great.”

The first half of this match was not promising for the Sun Devils. Similar to the previous home game against Little Rock that ended in a 0-0 draw, ASU did not come out swinging right away. This was something head coach Graham Winkworth noticed quickly.

“I was frustrated with our performance in the first half because we didn’t work hard enough,” Winkworth said.

Halftime was a crucial point for the Sun Devils to stay in the game. In the first half, they had a total of 10 shots compared to 15 in the second. Two of which from Matthews won the game.

Matthews started the match playing as a right outside defender which restricted her ability to affect the game attacking-wise. This changed in the second half as she moved up into her more customary wide-forward role and made an impact.

Matthews inserted herself twice on the score sheet, one being the aforementioned follow-up goal to open the scoring, the second a 64th-minute header off a cross by freshman forward Kierra Blundell.

Matthews had a similar opportunity against Little Rock that would have allowed ASU to get ahead, although she did not execute these goals the same way. In the home game prior, Matthews did not head in the ball and opted to use her foot instead, which changed against Grambling.

“Yeah, I was like, I bet that’d be the same thing as I did last time, so I put my head on it,” Matthews said.

Her coach appreciated the effort.

“The first thing I did was go rub her forehead because I was proud she finally headed the ball,” Graham said.

Fifth-year defender Lucy Johnson noticed the shift in the Sun Devils game in the second half as well.

“Our attitude, we had more fire about us and wanted to play more direct and that’s how we played the second half,” Johnson said. “We wanted to keep creating chances regardless of the scoreline.”

As for the game against the University of Pennsylvania on Sunday, the strategy is still in the works, but there are some slight advantages for ASU.

“Penn will be different in the way they play, it’ll be a hot Sunday afternoon and very different for them,” Graham said. “We rotated heavily so we will have some fresh legs and hopefully can keep possession of the ball and make them run a lot.”