No. 21 Arizona State (8-2-2) shutout the defending national champion Stanford Cardinal (5-5-1) 2-0 on a scorching hot day at Sun Devil Stadium.
The game started out quickly for the Sun Devils with freshman midfielder Jazmine Wilkinson scoring her second goal in two games. Her first career goal in maroon and gold came via a header on Friday night in the team’s extra time loss to the California Golden Bears. Wilkinson’s goal gave the Sun Devils the lead, and they never looked back.
The Cardinal were unable to provide offensively, only putting two shots on goal out of 12 shots in total. Stanford’s best scoring chance of the game came from Cardinal freshman midfielder Amy Sayer in the 10th minute. Sayer struck the ball toward the bottom right corner of the goal, where it was met with Sun Devil sophomore goalkeeper Giulia Cascapera’s outstretched gloves as she prevented the opposition from getting on the scoreboard.
The Sun Devils stayed strong defensively throughout the first half, and got a great look in the 23rd minute from junior forward Nicole Douglas. ASU’s leading scorer had a brilliant shot that just missed from inside the box, then junior midfielder Eva Van Deursen got the ball and struck a phenomenal shot over Cardinal sophomore goalkeeper Katie Meyer’s head from outside the box, giving the Sun Devils a 2-0 lead in the 24th minute.
“I saw that their goalie was a little bit far from the line, so I was like ‘I’m going to take a shot,’” Van Deursen said about her incredible first half goal. ”As soon as it left my foot, I knew it was going in.”
The heat outside warranted water breaks midway through each half, and allowed both teams the option for pep talks and strategy discussions with the coaching staff. However, Sun Devil head coach Graham Winkworth didn’t say much to his team during the break in the first half.
“Sometimes less is more,” Winkworth said. “I didn’t really need to talk too much because I didn’t want to mess them up.”
Winkworth did not mess up his team’s mojo whatsoever, as they played solid defense over the next twenty minutes to enter the halftime break with a 2-0 lead over the Cardinal.
“The key for me at halftime was making sure we were still on the front foot,” Winkworth said after the game. “We didn’t want them to have possession deep in our half.”
The second half for Arizona State was as strong as the first 45 minutes. The Sun Devil back line was able to draw the Cardinal offside four times, and help limit the number of shots Stanford took on Cascapera.
Key contributions from the Sun Devil bench allowed starters to get some rest. Sophomore defender Nicole Soto played 25 minutes in her first appearance of the season, while sophomore defender Kiki Stewart impressed with her skills getting 30 minutes of playing time.
When the clock struck 90 minutes, and the center referee blew her whistle three times, the Sun Devils once again celebrated a massive victory.
Coach Winkworth came into the season looking to turn lemons into lemonade. Now, he has made that lemonade and is hoping that the NCAA Selection Committee will buy it.
“Two years ago we were 42nd in the nation, and we were very, very, very close [to making the NCAA Soccer Tournament]. We were on the bubble, but we didn’t have wins against USC, UCLA and Stanford,” he said. “I think the NCAA committee [will take the wins against USC, UCLA and Stanford] into consideration when they do make their selections because I think we’d be a strong representation for the Pac-12.”
The Sun Devils look to stay hot with three games to play. Their next matchup will be on Friday Night in Salt Lake City against the team on the bottom of the Pac-12 standings, the Utah Utes (2-8-3).
