Set pieces struggles prove crucial in ASU Soccer loss

(Photo By: Hazel Foubert/ WCSN)

Just under twelve minutes into Thursday night’s match vs. West Virginia, (8-2-1, 4-0) Arizona State soccer (6-2-3, 1-2-1) conceded a corner kick to the Mountaineers. Senior defender Annika Leslie took it from the right side, playing a ball to the middle of the penalty area, where freshman defender Gianna Koss knocked it into the back of the net. 

Both junior defender Grace Gillard and senior defender Olivia Coleman defended junior forward Ajanae Respass leaving the ball untouched until it reached Koss. 

“It’s something that we’ve been struggling a little bit with,” Gillard said, “We just need to go back, we need to watch film, we need to find out what’s going wrong.”

Twenty minutes later, it was a feeling of deja vu as the Sun Devils defense conceded yet another goal from a set piece. This time it was Respass heading it home to make it a 2-1 game. 

Respass, standing at six feet tall, stood at the edge of the six-yard box and used her size to out-jump the 5-foot-9-inch Gillard, ASU’s tallest defender. The Sun Devil’s backline simply didn’t have the size to deal with Respass, as she notched three total shots, putting two on target.

One of those shots came in the 54th minute when Leslie took a free kick and played a threatening ball to the back post for Respass, where the forward placed her header at Nelles’ near-post, and ASU’s junior goalkeeper Pauline Nelles made a quick reaction to stop the attempt.  

The Sun Devils’ struggles defending set pieces weren’t isolated in these three moments, as multiple times throughout the match West Virginia threatened Nelles’ net. 

“We failed to defend set pieces,” ASU head coach Graham Winkworth said, “Set pieces are organization – and it wasn’t poorly organized – and bravery and we lacked it”

Nelles was one of the Sun Devils’ few bright spots, as she made six saves, on a night when ASU was frustrated in every aspect of the match. The attack struggled for long stretches of this match, only tallying one shot in the last sixty minutes, despite the immediate response to West Virginia’s opener. 

Winkworth gave Nelles her praises after the match, calling her “the best goalkeeper in the country.”

Ultimately frustrations would boil over for the Sun Devils, mainly Winkworth, in the final two minutes of the match. Initially, he was given a yellow card as he “left the technical area.” Less than a minute later, fifth-year defender Lucy Johnson attempted to throw the ball in but had to re-do it as there were two balls on the pitch. 

Meanwhile, the clock was still running and Winkworth argued with referee Megan McCain, who gave Winkworth his second yellow card in under sixty seconds.

As a result, Winkworth will miss Sunday’s match vs. the Cincinnati Bearcats (5-5-1, 1-3) on Sunday at 6:00 PM MT, as they look for their first Big-12 victory at home.

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