(Photo: Trey Lanthier/WCSN)
Midfielder McKenzie Semerad ended No. 6 Texas A&M’s (4-1-1) undefeated season, boosting Arizona State (4-1-1) to a 2-1 victory in Tempe on Sunday.
In the 87th minute of a game tied at 1-1, Jessica Raybe sent an early cross that found Semerad unmarked in the box. Semerad found the left netting with a volley to score her first career goal.
“Running to my teammates cheering, especially being the last one, it was awesome,” Semerad said. “It was huge.”
She had to bring up her leg to hit a line drive on a shot that frequently travels over the crossbar, ASU head coach Kevin Boyd said.
In the 4th minute, Kelley Monogue and the Aggies struck first. Mikaela Harvey found Monogue cutting through the middle of the box, who turned and slotted one in from 10 yards out.
It was the only goal ASU allowed in their two games in the Sun Devil Classic, and Boyd said his defense improved by “miles.”
“I still felt like we gave away a little too much,” Boyd said. “We gave up some back door balls in behind us. I thought we did a great job marking players in the box.
“In the first half, the only place they had daylight to shoot was 20 to 22 yards out. That was still in our no shot zone,” Boyd added. “We need to step out a little bit more and close that also. If we’re going to give them shots without pressure, I want them from 25-30 yards where our keeper is going to handle 99 percent of them.”
In the 41st minute, the head of Rachel Ometer put the ball in the back of the net from Tommi Goodman’s corner kick. The ball sailed over the outstretched glove of Aggie goalkeeper Renée McDermott two yards out from the goal line and found Ometer on the back post, her second goal of the season.
“That just hasn’t been [Ometer], and to her credit she’s earning more and more time,” Boyd said. “She played in the back today instead of up top, where we have had her in the prior weeks, and I thought she did an excellent job there.”
ASU goalkeeper Chandler Morris was excellent this weekend, Boyd said, as the redshirt junior recorded five saves against Texas A&M.
“We have been waiting for her to step up and have a presence in the goal and look like the senior that has a lot of experience,” Boyd said. “And she looked like that this weekend.”
McKenzie Berryhill was sidelined due to injury for the second time this weekend.
“I love how we stepped up in her absence,” Boyd said.
Both of the Sun Devils’s goals came from substitutes (Ometer in for Alyssa Martinez and Semerad in for Brianna Gonzalez). Six players came off the bench Sunday.
“We’re really happy with our depth,” Boyd said. “And because of that we’re able to rotate our subs in and keep our level high. In past years, we would go sub somebody in, and our game would just drop.”
Arizona State heads to Tucson on Friday for the Arizona Cats Classic, where they will play New Mexico State (Friday at 4 p.m.) and Nevada (Sunday at noon).
Game Highlights:
4th minute: Monogue turns and scores. Texas A&M leads 1-0.
25th minute: Annie Kunz volleys from a bouncing ball in the box. Morris makes the save.
28th minute: Moon wins a tackle in the left corner, dribbles in and sends a low cross to Cali Farquharson. Farquharson is tackled from behind resulting in a weak shot and no goal.
41st minute: Ometer scores on a corner from Goodman.
70th minute: Farquharson sends an early cross to Jessica Domenichelli, who sends a one-touch pass to Moon six yards away. McDermott prevents the shot with a tackle on Moon.
75th minute: Lara finds Moon through to goal but can’t convert.
80th minute: Moon combines with Farquharson on the 1-2 pass, but Moon’s shot travels wide right.
85th minute: Raybe’s cross finds Moon in the box, who turns and hits the right upright on the shot.
87th minute: Semerad scores on a volley. ASU leads 2-1.
You can reach Anthony Prosceno via e-mail at aproscen@asu.edu or on Twitter at @The_A_Pro.
