With Senior Night festivities, Sun Devils dominate

Photo: Mason Chiu/WCSN

TEMPE – Heading into Senior Night, hosting Grambling State, Arizona State soccer looked to make a statement after their first loss of the season, coming just 5 days prior. In their hard-fought 1-0 loss to the No. 9 North Carolina, ASU was overwhelmed and struggled to maintain possession.

In contrast, in Friday night’s game against Grambling State, the Sun Devils were dominant in possession, posting a 78% in that category, the largest tally they’ve had all season.

On top of that, an 8-0 victory marks the largest margin of victory in program history and the most goals scored in a game in the team’s history.

“The girls have come back all season long. North Carolina was the first time we’ve gone behind and not come back, there’s been 2 games this season where we’ve been behind, and then came back,” Winkworth said.

Throughout the game, ASU played a loose, attacking shape. With Grambling State in a 5-4-1 formation, ASU had all the possession they wanted, and the game was played almost entirely in the offensive half.

Winkworth also made it a point to increase the shot total after taking three against North Carolina. Not only did the Sun Devils increase that number, but they hit that mark by over tenfold with 40 shots – 20 that were on target.

The Sun Devils played mostly through the wide spaces with help from some standouts in the outside back positions – freshman defender Mya Angus and freshman defender Amy Medley. With 14 corners and the glaring shot total difference, ASU dominated these wide spaces.

“Angus, for me, she might be freshman of the year in the conference. She’s been unbelievable both defensively, she’s good 1 vs 1, but then offensively she showed some lovely attacking moments as well,” Winkworth said.

Angus and Medley each appeared on the scoresheet, as they posted two assists, career highs for each.

Graduate midfielder Peyton Marcisz scored her first career brace as a collegiate player, as well as her first goals of this season. Senior midfielder Emmie Ennis also claimed the first brace of her career and added an assist herself.

These historic bouts mean even more for “Senior Night” and the connections with alumni. Several of them attended the game, including some players from the inaugural season.

“We spend a lot of time with our alumni, we’re in contact with them,” Marcisz said. “They come to our practices sometimes and we’ll let them train with us too, but I think having that family aspect, and you know, some of them graduated in 2011 and they’re still coming to these games, so that’s really special.”

As a senior and a captain, Marcisz feels tons of pride to be where she is today. Though this senior night was not her first, it was definitely her last, which meant a lot more to her.

“There’s a sense of greatness to being a Sun Devil,” Marcisz said. “We have so many amazing athletes that have come out so I just feel proud of myself that I’m a part of it in a sense and that I can prove to myself that I can be at a big school like this, with a big name in the Big 12, you know, and people see us, so it’s all just really exciting.”

With a record of 5-1-2 going into league play, the Sun Devils look to maintain their high-level performances against big teams. The mentality the team holds is that anyone can beat them in this league, so they have to be prepared for any opponent.

“We have to do our work leading up to the games, you know, watch our film, practice, everything based off of each team we’re going to play, but just, expecting anything and everything because every team has something special, but we have a really special team too,” Marcisz said. “And I think people are going to have to watch out for us because sometimes we’re the underdog, but that’s not always the case, so just all gas.”

ASU will now prepare for its first game in league play in the Big 12, Friday, Sept 18. at 7 p.m. MST, hosting Utah in Tempe.