(Photo: Steve Rodriguez/ASU Athletics)
The Arizona State Sun Devils are coming off of a resounding 2-0 victory over USC, and are likely a couple of wins away from sealing a trip to the NCAA tournament.
A huge part of the Sun Devils’ success can be attributed to the play of red shirt junior goalkeeper Chandler Morris. Morris started off the season unsure if she would retain her starting position, but has now shown that she’s one of the top keepers in the conference.
“She’s a great shot blocker. I mean, she really is. She has been all along. She just has good instincts,” head coach Kevin Boyd said. “With our ability to score goals, it seems like any time she’s a part of us getting a shut out, we’re going to win.”
Morris’ 10 save performance against USC was one of her finest moments this season. The game marked Morris’ sixth shutout of the season and her 18th shutout of her career, making her second on ASU’s all-time list.
“This being my last year, I wanted to leave everything on the field and try to do my role,” Morris said. “That’s all I can really do; focus on my role and hope that, you know, everybody is focused on their role. So if I focus on my role, it makes it one less thing they have to worry about.”
Having proven herself more than competent in goal, Morris instills so much confidence in her teammates that at times, Boyd said it scares him. He said that sometimes, defensive players will let something go because they know that “Ah [Chandler’s] got it.” Though he believes in her as well, he’d like to be on the safe side.
In 15 games this season, Chandler has let in only eight goals against her and has parried 61 shots on target. Her goals-against average (.62) is one of the highest in the country, and fourth in the Pac-12.
Yet, Morris is very humble about her ability in goal and refuses to let the numbers get to her head.
“I stay very focused on what I have to do, you know. I don’t look at rankings, the stats. It’s just like what do I have to do, and what’s it going to take to get the job done? That’s kind of how I look at it. And it doesn’t matter who we’re playing,” Morris said. “At the end of the day, you can only control what you can control.”
Still, it hasn’t all been that simple for the keeper throughout the years.
A self-proclaimed shy human being, Morris said that it has been difficult to not be her normal, quiet self on the pitch.
“I am a very quiet, very shy person,” Morris said. “I think that’s something that I’ve kind of struggled with on the field; being louder, being vocal. That’s something I still work on.
Trying to flip that switch at game time, and be confident and aggressive and loud, I think that’s been a huge learning thing over the years.
“It’s still something I want to work on,” she added. “It’s still something I’m going to work on until the very last game.”
Morris also said that having to go to school while playing has been a “curve ball,” and is something that she has had to get used to. She usually does her schoolwork with plenty of time in advance, so she doesn’t have to worry about it on the pitch.
According to Boyd, that drive and positive mindset is something that the redshirt junior has always had.
“There were some things she just wasn’t great at and we would work through those and she could laugh at them and I like that. I mean, that’s a good trait. She didn’t take herself overly seriously and she didn’t take what we said so much that she would get down over it,” Boyd said.
Morris is known as one of the toughest goalkeepers around, but at the end of the day she is kind, a little shy and likes to have fun just like anybody else.
“Getting to travel around and have all these experiences with some of your closest friends; that’s been something I’ll never forget, regardless of the result that weekend,” Morris said. “It’s just been an invaluable experience. Like it’s taught me so much about myself. The whole experience has been just really awesome.”
You can reach the author on Twitter @tonymarro11 or email him at aamarroq@asu.edu
