(Photo: Patricia Vicente/WCSN)
Goals have been numerous for No. 20 Arizona State (7-1) in 2021 as the team has scored 24 goals through its first 8 games of the season.
That all changed Friday afternoon when Arizona State traveled to the high altitude of Colorado Springs to take on Colorado College (0-5) in what would be a double-overtime thriller.
Colorado College and Arizona State acted as prize fighters all afternoon, trading defensive blows over and over again with no side gaining control of the fight. The game looked like it would go the distance as Colorado College played toe to toe with Arizona State for 107 consecutive minutes. The tough physical defense from both sides left both offenses frustrated, searching for any opportunity to make a play. Eventually, an opportunity would present itself.
The score was knotted at 0-0 with less than five minutes remaining in double-overtime when the Tigers wall of a defense finally cracked. Junior Alexa Porter committed a foul in the box, awarding the Sun Devils a penalty kick.
Senior forward Nicole Douglas had the potential to be the Sun Devils’ heroine, with only one person standing in her way, fifth-year goalkeeper and former Northern Arizona Lumberjack Taryn Benham.
Douglas won the battle.
As quick as the foul occurred, Douglas speedily slipped the ball past Benham, hitting the back of the net and securing the victory. The goal was the first and last time the scoreboard in Colorado Springs would light up as the game ended following Douglas’ heroic moment. That one and only goal would leave the final score at 1-0.
Not all wins and losses are created equal. For the Tigers, the disappointment of falling just short of a huge upset was visible on all of the players’ and coaches’ expressions. For the Sun Devils, their body language was a different story but not as different as you may think. It was not expressions of excitement that dominated the Sun Devil sideline but more of a team-wide sigh of relief.
Arizona State has worked extremely hard to reach where they are now, being ranked No. 20 in the country. It took huge wins over talented programs such as Texas Tech, Nebraska and Mississippi State for Arizona State to earn its rank. To have that success diminished by losing to a winless Colorado College team one week prior to the commencement of Pac-12 play would have been truly devastating. Luckily for Graham Winkworth’s squad, that nightmare never became reality.
Colorado College will have one day off before playing host to Southern Utah on Sunday afternoon. The Tigers, now (0-6), will remain searching for their first victory of the season as their Mountain West conference play quickly approaches.
As for the Sun Devils, they will have a week to recover before they travel to Seattle to take on Pac-12 foe Washington (7-1). Next week’s matchup will open up Pac-12 play for the Sun Devils as they look to earn another NCAA tournament bid this season.
The future remains bright for the Sun Devils despite narrowly escaping an upset. It can be easy to be negative after a scare like Friday’s game but at the end of the day, a win is a win. As the Sun Devils’ quest for win number nine begins, Sun Devil fans should be eager to see how the team responds to the adversity experienced in Colorado Springs.
