On Wednesday afternoon, the Arizona State soccer team took on the Kansas Jayhawks in the first round of the Sprouts Food Market Big 12 Championship. After ending the regular season with an 8-7-3 record, ASU needed to go far in the tournament to have a chance at qualifying for the NCAA tournament.
Unfortunately for the Sun Devils, a 2-1 loss to the Jayhawks eliminated them from the tournament in Kansas City. It was an interesting match, full of chaos from both sides, leaving multiple takeaways for ASU.
Attacking Struggles Cost Sun Devils
Wednesday’s match featured a familiar story for this Sun Devils team; they struggled to create chances, and on the rare occasion they did, they weren’t clinical enough to score. ASU only had one total shot in the first half, coming in the 14th minute.
It came in the 14th minute of play, as Colon won a ball in Kansas’ territory, then played it to her fellow All-Big 12 Second Team honoree, freshman forward Kierra Blundell. Colon got the ball back from Blundell, then took a shot about 25 yards away from goal. Although she did well to create the chance in the first place, Colon’s effort on goal left much to be desired as she put it too far to the left.
The Sun Devils came out hungry for a goal to open the second half. ASU spent much of the first ten minutes deep in the attacking third but only managed one shot from junior forward Cameron Valladares. Not getting a goal in this stretch proved costly for the Sun Devils, as a long-range effort from sophomore defender Caroline Castans doubled the Jayhawks’ advantage.
ASU immediately responded through a goal from Blundell, coming off a collision between herself, redshirt freshman Sophie Dawe, and redshirt sophomore Assa Kante. Luckily for Blundell, she stayed on her feet and put the ball into the back of an open net.
This proved to be the last real chance for the Sun Devils, despite them being down a goal for the final half-hour of play. ASU only had two shots after its goal, with neither on target.
Defense Limits Jayhawks, But Suffer Twice (again)
On October 20, 2024, this Sun Devils team played host to Kansas, ultimately falling 2-1. The two goals for the Jayhawks came off two separate instances of ASU’s defense not communicating with one another. Despite this, the Sun Devils defense held strong for much of the match and didn’t allow Kansas any other chances.
Wednesday night was similar to that previous meeting, as two unlucky goals cost ASU their season. 17 minutes into the game, redshirt sophomore forward Sage Wimes headed the ball toward the back post. Junior defender Grace Gillard and junior defender Meighan Farrell stood in line with each other, but with a gap between them for the ball to pass through. Wimes’ header found junior forward Lexi Watts who smashed it into the net for the match’s opening goal.
In the second half, it wasn’t a Sun Devil’s mistake that led to the second goal, but rather brilliance from a Jayhawk. From the far left corner of the 18-yard box, Castans smashed a shot on goal and into the right side of the net and past junior goalkeeper Pauline Nelles.
Unable To Keep Season Alive
After struggles in conference play, the Sun Devils needed to win the Big 12 tournament to qualify for the NCAA tournament. This tournament seemed like the perfect place for ASU to leave behind the regular season’s nightmare and take it one game at a time
It also seemed like the Sun Devils were given a gift with their tournament draw, as they’d take on Kansas in the first round, and had they won they’d be taking on West Virginia in the quarterfinals. Although ASU lost to both sides, the Sun Devils were competitive in both fixtures and seemed poised to get revenge.
However, the similar stories that haunted ASU’s tournament dreams continued to show and ended up costing the Sun Devils their season.
From here ASU head coach Graham Winkworth will be tested with a busy offseason, as he looks to rebuild his squad for its second season in the Big 12 and try to return to the NCAA tournament.
