After their thrilling double overtime win at Washington, Arizona State travels south to Pullman to face the Washington State Cougars.
The Sun Devils picked up their first Pac-12 win of the season Thursday with a 3-2 win over versus Washington. Forward Aly Moon returned from injury Thursday and instantly made an impact, scoring the game’s opening goal. The Sun Devils would go on to concede the next two goals and trailed the Huskies 2-1 in the 53rd minute.
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Since Pac-12 play opened up, the Sun Devils have the knack of scoring late goals in the final 10 minutes of regulation. Thursday was no different as Larisa Staub scored her second goal of the season to level the game at two goals a piece. The game would remain tied after the first overtime period, but ASU scored the winning goal thanks to a poor clearance deflecting off Madison Kmetko and rolling into the back of the net.
The Sun Devils picked up a much needed win in the Pac-12 after a skid to begin in-conference play. They will look to build off the momentum versus a slumping Washington State team.
The Cougars are 5-6-1 and 0-4 in Pac-12 play. The Cougars are coming off a 2-0 loss versus Arizona, and in Pac-12 play, Washington State has been outscored 6-1.
The return of Aly Moon for the Sun Devils was critical, as Arizona State struggled to create chances and relied heavily on a defensive mistake from the opponent to help create a goal. Head coach Kevin Boyd has put an emphasis on creating shots from inside the 18 yard box, and not shooting shots from outside the 18. Boyd said he would rather them shoot a small number of shots in the box that are on target than numerous shots that are off target from outside the 18.
Emma Malsy has been solid for the Sun Devils in goal as she has done a good job organizing the defense in front of her and dealing with crosses into the box. The key for the Sun Devils is their set piece defending, as that is where ASU is vulnerable. During live play, the back four of the Sun Devils has been strong thanks to defenders McKenzie Grossman and Devyn Kelsey.
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The Sun Devils need to string together wins, with six to eight wins the goal for the Sun Devils. They’ll hope to make it two in a row Sunday. Kickoff is at 11 a.m. and the game can been seen live on Pac-12 Washington or steamed on Pac-12 Networks.com.