ASU Soccer: Sun Devils trounce Toledo 5-0

(Photo via Xavier Litman/WCSN)

Recently for the Arizona State Women’s Soccer team, the non-conference schedule has never been a problem. Last season the Sun Devils went 8-1 in their non-conference schedule, but this year ASU was looking to stay undefeated with a win over the Toledo Rockets.

But, the task of staying undefeated was tested before the game even started as ASU head coach Graham Winkworth was not on the sideline due to illness. Despite the huge absence of Winkworth, the Sun Devils (4-0-2) did not miss a beat, defeating the Rockets (1-4-2) 5-0, remaining undefeated during the preseason.

“We were missing a member of our family tonight, so that game is for him,” assistant coach Jo Chubb said, who, alongside assistant coach Ross Alexander, replaced Winkworth for today’s game. “We wish him a speedy recovery and he will be back in no time.”

One area that Winkworth has been wishing his team would improve on is their set piece efficiency. It is the one area that has been disappointing for the Sun Devils, but it looks to be turning around with one set-piece goal in each of the last two games. Sunday’s goal came from freshman defender Ava Wright off of a cross from sophomore forward Keri Matthews to put the Sun Devils up 1-0 in the 11th minute.

“Set pieces can decide a game,” Chubb said. “Fortunately tonight we were able to score lots of other goals but they can be decisive all the time, so it is an area of improvement that we need to make and today was a great step in the right direction.”

Chubb was right. ASU was able to score lots of other goals, four more goals in fact, and they all came from a different source. Starting with graduate forward Olivia Nguyen who, with a 34th-minute strike, scored her first goal of the year widening the lead to 2-0 ASU at halftime.

While it was Nguyen’s first time finding the back of the net, the next goalscorer is a frequent member of the scorecard. In the 67th minute, graduate forward Nicole Douglas found the back of the net for the ninth time this year. Although watching Douglas score goals has become a common occurrence, Sunday night’s goal took a little more effort as it took 11 shots for Douglas to finally find her mark, throwing her hands up in relief when the ball finally found the back of the net.

One player that stood out among the five Sun Devil scorers was sophomore forward Kennedy Mayo who, according to Chubb, was given a challenge heading into tonight’s game.

“We challenged Ken. She has been really really great in practice this week and we told her that that needs to transfer to a game,” Chubb said. “And boy did she deliver tonight. For me, she was a game-changer. We call our subs off the bench game-changers for a reason and she certainly delivered tonight.”

Deliver she did, Mayo subbed on in the 33rd minute and one minute later ASU scored its second goal of the game. Later in the game, following consistent pressure from Mayo, she finally got one past the keeper, scoring in the 79th minute. Then, one minute later, Mayo was aggressive again, but this time she found graduate midfielder Eva Van Deursen in the center of the box for the fifth and final goal of the night, notching Mayo an assist and goal on the night.

“I love a good challenge,” Mayo said. “I’m competitive, so today’s challenge I took it head on and it resulted in us getting more goals and opportunities to score.”

The Sun Devils, riding back-to-back 5-0 victories and an undefeated 4-0-2 non-conference schedule, will start Pac-12 play Friday, Sept 23 against the Colorado Buffaloes, a team that has been in and out of the top-25 rankings. Winkworth’s tenure has seen the Sun Devils struggle during conference play, going 14-41-10 in five seasons.

Despite the rough history in the last few years, the Sun Devils believe these last two games have been a promising step towards a solid conference record.

“The Pac-12 is the best league in the country, that is why we are all here,” Chubb said. “So, it was really important for us in these last two games to build on our performance and that we focus on our performance in the hope that the result will come.”