(Photo: Colin Thompson/WCSN)
It was an emotional sight in a thundering atmosphere as senior night and the renowned rivalry between Arizona State and University of Arizona clashed Friday night in Tempe.
With the stakes higher than ever before, the Sun Devils (10-6-1, 5-4-1) failed to punch a ticket to the NCAA Tournament and missed out on claiming the Territorial Cup after falling 1-0 to the Wildcats (12-5-2, 5-4-2) in front of a sold-out crowd at Sun Devil Soccer Stadium.
The game under the lights didn’t start off all too well for ASU (10-6-1, 5-4-1), who gave up a corner kick to the Wildcats less than a minute into the game. Luckily for them, their defense and goalkeeper Nikki Panas were there to bail them out.
However, for the majority of the match’s intensity, coach Graham Winkworth praised the senior leadership as they carried the team wholeheartedly despite the losing effort
“I want to praise what an amazing senior class we have,” Winkworth said. “We have come so far in the past two years… it has come from the leadership from our senior class.”
The pre-game ceremonies and festivities brought a jolt of excitement along with the support from the maroon and gold early into the action. However, U of A quickly spoiled the fun with an offensive outburst in the opening minutes of play.
Facing an onslaught of pressure, the Sun Devils fell behind in the game after only six minutes of play. After a corner kick from the far side, Wildcat junior defender Morgan McGarry scored on a third effort to give her team the early 1-0 advantage. McGarry’s third goal of the season would be the lone goal of the night.
The Sun Devils continued to string passes successfully in the midfield, however, they could not find any clear, high-quality scoring chances through the defense. Nonetheless, freshman forward Marleen Shimmer tallied up six shots in today’s match. Her total contributed to two-thirds of ASU’s shots on the night.
Meanwhile, an emotional senior Jemma Purfield addressed the impact this loss had on her.
“I’m absolutely gutted,” Purfield said. “It’s always hard to lose. I love ASU and I love the last four years, so it’s tough to lose.”
Despite tonight’s loss, ASU’s hopes to make the NCAA tournament and is still alive with its final game of the season being played on Sunday. The Sun Devils are currently tied with Utah for sixth place in the Pac-12 standings with 16 points.
The Sun Devils will close out the regular season with arguably their toughest test of the year: No. 1 Stanford. With crucial playoff implications on the line, these two teams square off Sunday at 3 p.m. after their initial matchup date in October was rescheduled due to the weather. Senior forward Casey Martinez is looking to Sunday’s game with optimism after the loss.
“It was a hard one to swallow tonight,” Martinez said. “We are going to put this one to bed and when we wake up tomorrow, it’s going to be a new day. We have everything to work for in the world still. We’ve had a great season up until this day. Our season is not even close to over.”
