ASU Soccer: Sun Devils fight for a draw against No. 18 Colorado

(Photo: Deja Broughton/WCSN)

Arizona State women’s soccer might not have gotten the upset victory they were looking for on Thursday afternoon, but nobody around the Sun Devils program will be complaining about an upset draw. In front of a crowd of 449 at Sun Devil Soccer Stadium, Arizona State (6–2–1) held 18 ranked Colorado (9–0–2) to a 1–1 draw.

Thursday marked nearly a year to the day since Arizona State had last picked up a point against a nationally-ranked opponent: on September 28, 2017, the Sun Devils held 11 ranked California to a 1–1 draw on the road. Just as in that game a year ago, the Sun Devils were forced to come from behind in order to claim a result.

Colorado controlled the early stages of this match, tallying four shots in the first ten minutes of the game and largely keeping the ball pinned in the Sun Devil half of the field. That pressure paid off in the 14 minute, courtesy of Jorian Baucom. The Scottsdale native beat two defenders down the left-hand side, and finished at the near post past Nikki Panas for her eighth goal of the season.

It took Arizona State nearly 10 minutes to get a shot on target after the Buffaloes goal. Once the Sun Devils found their footing, however, they began to take the game to Colorado. In one five-minute spurt midway through the first half, ASU tallied seven shots while winning three corner kicks. Each time, Colorado goalkeeper Jalen Tompkins, a Phoenix native, managed to snuff out the threat.

“It’s not that we’re starting slowly, we’re playing against some of the best teams in the country,” said head coach Graham Winkworth. “We played well in the first half, we were very unlucky to be down if it wasn’t for their goalkeeper. I told [the team], keep doing what they’re doing, and the goals will come.”

Arizona State came roaring out of the gate to begin the second half, with Nicole Douglas forcing Tompkins to tip a shot off the crossbar just 45 seconds after kickoff. The breakthrough in the 52 minute would come off of a corner kick, however, a development that was “kind of ironic” to coach Winkworth.

“…of all the teams I didn’t expect us to have success on set pieces [against], it was Colorado, because they’ve got some very tall, athletic young ladies,” Winkworth said. “We obviously work on them as much as anybody else, [but] we don’t have a bunch of six foot girls to hammer those headers away very often.”

Sun Devil center back Madison Wolf was the player responsible for the breakthrough, finding a hole at the edge of the six yard box and tidily dispatching her header to the back post. It was the first goal of Wolf’s career, but the senior was quick to give credit to the corner kick taker, Jemma Purfield.

“[Scoring] felt really good.,” Wolf said. “I knew Jemma was trying to hit it where I was running, so it was just easy, because she played a great ball, I just kind of flicked it in.”

Both teams continued to pour numbers forward for the remainder of regulation. The Sun Devils and Buffaloes combined for 37 shots in regulation, forcing the two goalies to make 14 saves. Neither team would give an inch, however, pushing the match into two 10-minute, sudden death overtime periods.

In the first half of overtime, just as at the start of the second half, Arizona State almost found a goal less than a minute after the game resumed. Wolf and Purfield again connected on a corner kick, but this time the center back’s header would be cleared off the line by a Buffaloes defender.

Colorado returned the favor in the second half of overtime, as the goal scorer Baucom had her goal-bound header cleared off the line by the Sun Devils. Arizona State would get the last opportunity to win the game, a free kick with four seconds to go, but even with Nikki Panas going forward the Buffaloes were able to clear at the horn.

“…I’m happy with the whole team’s performance,” said Panas. “To play 110 minutes, yet alone with the heat and against a team that’s ranked that highly, it’s great for us.”

The teams combined to tally 40 shots on the afternoon, forcing Tompkins and Panas in the goals to make 18 combined saves. Casey Martinez led the way in both categories for the Sun Devils, putting five of her eight shots on frame. Panas made six saves, her second-highest single-game total this season.

With another game coming up on Sunday, it will be a quick turnaround for Arizona State. The Sun Devils have less than 72 hours in between games, the first of which went 110 minutes in 104-degree heat. Team captain Jemma Purfield made the point postgame that the team will have to keep its focus up in order to be ready to face Utah in three days.

“The next couple days are really important in terms of recovery,” Purfield said. “We’ve got to recover right, eat and sleep well, and practice to a light intensity to make sure we’re ready tactically but also physically.”

Arizona State will return to action at 1:00 PM on Sunday, playing host to the Utah Utes (3–6–1). Following that match, ASU will be back on the road, swinging up to Los Angeles to face a pair of nationally-ranked opponents, UCLA and USC, to begin the month of October.