(Photo: Colin Thompson/WCSN)
After a disappointing loss against rivals Arizona Friday, ASU got another chance to prove that they deserved to be in the NCAA tournament against Stanford in their last regular season match, but fell short in a 4-1 loss to the number one team in the nation.
Although on paper, the Cardinal created a lot more chances that the Sun Devils, the numbers don’t tell the whole story of the game- specifically in the first half.
The only goal in the first half came from a free kick in the 20th minute by Stanford midfielder Jordan DiBiasi right outside the 20-yard box.
The foul to cause the free kick was a questionable call after a slide tackle by ASU senior captain Jemma Purfield.
“I thought I got the ball,” Purfield said after the game. “Sometimes those decisions go against you and you have to bounce back and we did. We bounced back and held our own all 90 minutes, so I’m proud of the team and proud of our performance.”
The Sun Devils had chances of their own in the first half that were not finished.
In the seventh minute, freshman Eva Van Deursen intercepted a pass and found German forward Marleen Schimmer, who fired a long but accurate shot that was saved by junior Stanford goalkeeper Lauren Rood.
Later in the half, ASU senior midfielder Casey Martinez made a run in the box before passing it off to winger Cori Sullivan who fired a close shot that just missed wide.
“We conceded a free kick and the young lady put a wonder strike in. Outside of that, I thought the two best chances in the first half fell to us,” head coach Graham Winkworth said. “If you were just watching, you probably didn’t know which team was number one in the first half. In the second half they just had too much for us.”
Stanford came out strong in the second half as DiBiasi scored her second goal of the game off a no-look pass assist from sophomore forward Civana Kuhlmann.
Only five minutes later, the Cardinal continued to build off their lead with another goal from sophomore midfielder Belle Briede, but the Sun Devils responded less than a minute later with a 30-yard scoring shot by Purfield.
“They have some big strong girls out there, athletes that are technically gifted. A lot of them play for the national teams too, so they’re obviously going to be good. When I saw the gap I ran into it and that is kind of what opened it up for me,” Purfield said about her second goal of the season.
Stanford shut down any chances of a Sun Devil comeback in the 70th minute, capitalizing on a Kuhlmann penalty shot.
“Credit to Stanford, they’re PAC-12 champions because they’re the best team in the country playing in the best league in the country,” Winkworth said. “I want to congratulate coach Ratcliffe on the fantastic job he’s done once again.”
The Sun Devils will await their fate on whether they will be in the NCAA Postseason, with the field of 64 teams set to be announced Monday at 2:30 p.m.
