ASU Soccer: Sun Devils shut out by No. 2 Stanford

ASU soccer fell 6-0 to the No. 2 Stanford Cardinal as they wrapped up their road trip this weekend dropping their record to 4-5-2 (1-1-1).

Stanford got on the board early with goals from freshman forward Catarina Macario and junior mid Jordan Dibiasi, less than 10 minutes into the game. Stanford took advantage of their one-on-one ability in the box as the Sun Devils backline struggled to defend the penetration down the middle.

Freshman keeper Nikki Panas and the Sun Devils back line held the Cardinal to 3-0 at the half but the dominance of the third best goal rate in NCAA history proved to be too much for the Sun Devils to handle.

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Stanford’s tear didn’t end at the half as the Cardinal would go on to score three more goals on the Sun Devils. Two of which came from junior midfielder Michelle Xiao, who scored on a loose ball in the box less than five minutes into the second half, and then again on her own rebound five minutes later.

However, redshirt sophomore Jaye Boissiere was the leading catalyst for the Cardinal, with the two assists that kicked off Stanford’s continuous scoring.

Panas, however, did not let up in the second half, recording six saves for the Sun Devils and ending the game with eight overall.

This late welcome into Pac-12 soccer will stand to be a large learning curve for the Sun Devils as they’ll need to work on the man to man coverage in the back line and the offense’s ability to create shots, as Stanford out-shot the Sun Devils 30-2 in their match up.

ASU’s record falls to 1-1-1 after the tough loss as Stanford moves up to 3-0 in conference play. This was Stanford’s eighth shutout of the season along with their eighth straight win.

Next: ASU Soccer: Madison Stark’s equalizer leads to 1-1 draw vs. #11 Cal

The Sun Devils will look to bounce back from their loss as the look to take on an even tougher team, No. 1 UCLA, back at home in Tempe Thursday.