ASU Soccer: Sun Devils fall hard to No. 2 Stanford

(Photo: Nicholas Badders/WCSN)

After an impressive draw against California to begin their Bay Area trip Thursday, the ASU women’s soccer team failed to have the same quality performance against Stanford Sunday afternoon.

Stanford cruised to a 6-0 victory against the Sun Devils.

From kickoff, the Cardinal seemed to be the more energetic team. They attacked and defended with aggressiveness and kept possession for most of the match. ASU on the other hand did not seem like the confident squad that has been exceeding expectations in the past few games.

The first goal from Stanford came in the 5th minute, forward Catarina Macario received the ball right on her foot and went past an ASU defender to put the ball in the back of the net as she was one-on-one with goalkeeper Nikki Panas.

Stanford put up two more goals in the half and did not let up in the second half. Stanford midfielder Michelle Xiao scored in the 50th minute from a loose ball in the box. The Sun Devils had a difficult time defending low crosses into the box all game long as Stanford scored two goals in such fashion on its way to victory.

The Sun Devils, who seemed confused at times, had a couple of miscues in the passing game to start which set the tone for them the rest of the match. Stanford was able to put pressure on the back line, predict and intercept ASU’s passes, and stop any attacks before even reaching the final third of the pitch.

ASU’s two shots came in the last 5 minutes of the match and were both off target. Meanwhile, Stanford had a consistent presence in ASU’s back line and were able to put up 30 shots, 11 of which were on target.

It was an overall poor quality game for the Sun Devils filled with poor decisions, poor clearances off the box, and the inability to move the ball on offense. ASU’s stretch with the dominant California teams will not get any easier next week as they will play No. 1 UCLA and No. 7 USC back home in Tempe.