(Photo: Steve Rodriguez/ASU Athletics)
The No. 18 Arizona State Sun Devils fell to unranked Oklahoma State Friday night 3-2 for their second straight loss of the season.
Although the Sun Devils put on a solid offensive display outshooting the Cowgirls 17-6 (10-3 for shots on goal), they were unable to top them in the end.
In the second minute the Cowgirls broke the deadlock when a corner kick fell to the feet of defender Delaney Kiely. Kiely shot the ball, which hit the underside of the crossbar and went into the net.
Following the first goal, the match was pretty even as both sides were going back and forth in advancing the ball and keeping the pressure up until the 25th minute when senior forward Cali Farquharson equalized for the Sun Devils. Sophomore defender Madison Stark tried to cut inside and attempt a left footed shot outside the box only to have it blocked by the OSU defense. The ball then was left at the feet of junior forward Larisa Staub, who set up Farquharson in front of the net for the easy tap in.
With 10:27 left in the first half, the lightning detectors at OSU’s facilities went off, forcing the game to be temporarily delayed. The delay lasted 42 minutes and due to the length of the delay, halftime was cut short to only seven minutes as opposed to 15.
As soon as the game resumed, ASU instilled an up tempo game by keeping the pressure on and pushing forward more than the Cowgirls. Their hard work paid off when redshirt senior midfielder Mackenzie Semerad was fouled 22 yards from the goal. Redshirt junior midfielder Lucy Lara took the opportunity and shot a free kick into the upper lefthand corner of the goal giving the Sun Devils their first lead of the game.
Coming out of halftime ASU seemed to have control of the game until the 12th minute when a foul was committed in the ASU half right near the corner flag. The foul resulted in an equalizer for the Cowgirls as the free kick was kicked towards the far post and although redshirt senior goalkeeper Chandler Morris seemed to get a glove on it, the ball ended up on the head of sophomore midfielder Laurene Tresfield whose ball wound up in the Sun Devil’s net.
The Cowgirls used that momentum from the goal to continue to get forward and put pressure on ASU’s defense, and with 21:44 left in the match sophomore forward Anna Beffer scored the final goal of the match. A cross off of junior forward Courtney Dike landed at Beffers feet in the six-yard box which Beffer easily sent home.
In the final minutes of the game, ASU’s attack was trying hard to find a late equalizer with their final shot coming from Morris. The Sun Devils won a corner with twenty seconds left in the game, took it quickly, and the ball was cleared out to Morris at the edge of the box whose shot found itself over the OSU net.
The Sun Devils look to get back on track on Sunday when they face unranked Oklahoma at 10 a.m. PST.
