(Photo: Deja Broughton/WCSN)
On a sunny evening in Westwood, Calif., the Sun Devils (6-4-1) fell to the No.15 UCLA Bruins (7-3-1) 3-1. The lone goal from Jemma Purfield was not enough as ASU earned their second conference loss of the season.
Just two minutes from the opening whistle, the Bruins drew the first blood. Freshman midfielder Maricarmen Reyes netted her third of the season to give UCLA an early 1-0 advantage with a swift kick through Sun Devil senior goaltender Sydney Day.
It did not take long for UCLA’s lead to increase. 15 minutes later, a goal from Anika Rodriguez gave the blue and yellow crowd a jolt of excitement. The veteran forward now has the team-high of four goals on the season.
For the remaining time in the first half, the Bruins dominated the Sun Devils and limited their offensive chances.
Ashley Sanchez scored the third goal for the Bruins 15 minutes into the second half after dashing past Sun Devils defender Angela Boyle and striking one past Day.
The Bruins outshot the Sun Devils 16 to nine with six of those shots being on goal.
Nevertheless, the Sun Devils kept pushing against the Bruins to create opportunities and found their first goal of the night in minute 72 by the English senior Jemma Purfield. This marked the first of the season for Purfield and ended up as ASU’s single goal of the match.
Despite allowing three goals, Day had three saves on the evening in her first game playing in conference play.
The Bruins, however, did play a more physical style by accumulating 10 fouls throughout the game. While the Sun Devils played a less than physical game with only three fouls on the night.
In the 29 minute of the game Day had a poor defensive decision in front of the net almost causing the Bruins to score another goal.
Upon further review, it was determined that the ball did not cross the line. As it was straddling the white line for a potential goal, an ASU defender ran up to the net to kick it out before the ball ever had a chance to cross the line completely.
After their second consecutive loss against a Pac-12 opponent and another nationally ranked opponent, the Sun Devils sit at eighth place in the standings.
The Sun Devils will face No. 30 USC Trojans on Sunday at 12 p.m. to close out the Los Angeles road trip. They will match up against Stanford on their first match back at home next Saturday at 5 p.m.
