ASU Soccer: Injuries hurt Sun Devils in loss to Stanford

(Photo via Xavier Littman/WCSN)

The Arizona State Sun Devils could not handle the heat as they lost their first match of the season to the Stanford Cardinal 2-0 in Sunday’s matchup at Sun Devil Soccer Stadium.

The temperature at the beginning of the match was 95 degrees and it seemed like the heat played a crucial role in the match, but graduate midfielder Alexia Delgado didn’t let the heat justify how the Sun Devils played.

“We try not to put that as an excuse,” Delgado said. “We definitely feel that it is hot, but Stanford was also playing in the same weather and so we can’t use that as an excuse.”

Junior midfielder Jazmine Wilkinson fell to the pitch after a collision with a Stanford player in the 15th minute, promoting head coach Graham Winkworth to substitute sophomore defender Lauren Kirberg in for Wilkinson, but she was able to return later in the game. This was the first of several injuries for the Sun Devils in the match.

The referees handed the only yellow card of the first half to redshirt senior midfielder Sierra Enge in the 19th minute. Freshman goalkeeper Pauline Nelles kicked the ball from midfield on the free kick, but junior goalkeeper Ryan Campbell caught it to thwart the opportunity.

The Sun Devils may have not had any shots on goal in the first half, but they were still tied 0-0 at halftime against one of the best teams in the Pac-12. Stanford only had two shots on goal in the first half, so it looked like whoever scored first in the second half was going to win the game.

It looked like Stanford was going to seize that opportunity when senior midfielder Maya Doms appeared to score a goal in the 55th minute, but the referees called offside on the play. Senior defender Lieske Carleer injured herself on the play and was substituted for senior midfielder Callie Darst. This missed opportunity for the Cardinal seemed to give them momentum as freshman forward Allie Montoya scored unassisted to the far side of the goal a couple minutes later in the 57th minute to take a 1-0 lead.

The injuries kept piling up later in the match. Junior defender Lucy Johnson hit the pitch again for the second time of the match when she blocked a hard shot from junior forward Samantha Williams in the 78th minute. Johnson had to be helped off the pitch and freshman defender Ava Wright substituted for her.

Freshman midfielder Enasia Colon also fell to the pitch a minute later. The Sun Devils clearly lost the war of attrition and it led to their demise in the game as Catherine Paulson scored in the 79th minute off assists from graduate forward Abby Greubel to extend the 2-0 lead.

The only shot on goal for the Sun Devils occurred with two seconds before the final whistle when sophomore forward Keri Matthews’ shot was saved by Campbell. The Sun Devils had seven shots, only one less than the Cardinal’s eight shots on goal. Graduate midfielder Eva van Deursen talks about her biggest takeaway from the match.

“I think we have to learn from it and I think one game can not determine our season,” van Deursen said. “We were undefeated before this game, we have one loss right now and we are a really good team. We should definitely be sad about this loss. Stanford is a really good team and if you want to compete with those teams we have to bring our very best, which I don’t think we did today.”

Winkworth was brutally honest when reflecting on the match against Stanford.

“Today, we were beaten by the better team,” Winkworth said. “They are extremely gifted, loads of talent, and really well-coached. Sometimes you just have to hold your hands up and say you were beaten by a better team, so congratulations to Stanford.”

The status for the injured players in the game is unknown at this time. This is especially bad timing for injuries as the Sun Devils (6-1-2) travel to Los Angeles to play the No. 1 ranked UCLA Bruins (11-0, 3-0 Pac-12) and the No. 20 ranked USC Trojans (7-1-1, 3-0 Pac-12) on Thursday and Sunday, respectively.