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ASU Soccer: Sun Devils end regular season with loss to Stanford

By Jerry Walker

TEMPE, AZ - OCTOBER 10: Arizona State Sun Devils mascot Sparky performs on the field during the fourth quarter of the college football game against the Colorado Buffaloes at Sun Devil Stadium on October 10, 2015 in Tempe, Arizona. (Photo by Chris Coduto/Getty Images)
TEMPE, AZ - OCTOBER 10: Arizona State Sun Devils mascot Sparky performs on the field during the fourth quarter of the college football game against the Colorado Buffaloes at Sun Devil Stadium on October 10, 2015 in Tempe, Arizona. (Photo by Chris Coduto/Getty Images) /
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ASU soccer concluded its season with a loss against Stanford behind a brace from Jordan DiBiasi. They now have to see if they will hear their name called.

As the Arizona State Sun Devils soccer team played their final regular season game all attention swings from the 4-1 defeat to the anxious wait to see if their name is one of the 64 that will be in the NCAA Tournament.

The defeat came at the hands of the No. 1 team in the country, the Stanford Cardinal.

Despite the biggest loss of the season for the Sun Devils, there were some bright spots in the match.

Senior captain Jemma Purfield scored a wonder-goal for the Devils’ only goal.

Purfield took a rip from 30 yards out only seconds after the Cardinal made the scored 3-0. Purfield described her goal.

“That (Stanford) are a hard team to break down,” Purfield said. “I found a gap and it kind of opened up for me so I hit it and it went in top corner.”

Purfield’s goal is only the second goal conceded by the Cardinal in their last nine matches.

The match through much of the first half was very equal according to head coach Graham Winkworth.

“You did not know which team was No. 1 in that first half.”

The lone first half goal came off a rocket of a free kick by Cardinal captain Jordan DiBiasi that just beat goalkeeper Nikki Panas.

Stanford showed why they are the best team in the country by coming out of the break and scoring two goals in the first 10 minutes including a second goal of the match from DiBiasi and a goal by Belle Briede.

DiBiasi’s second goal came after a bit of skill by Civana Kuhlmann and a back-heel pass that sprang her on goal.

Stanford put the game away in the 71st minute on a penalty by Kuhlmann. Even though the score was one-sided, Purfield was proud of the team

“I feel the effort was there from everyone [and] the team performance was really good,” Purfield said.

While Stanford has automatically qualified for the NCAA Tournament, the Sun Devils await to find out Monday afternoon if the qualified as well.

The general feeling from both Winkworth and Purfield is that the team is as deserving of being in the tourney as anyone else in the country. This would be the Sun Devils’ eighth NCAA Tournament appearance in program history with the farthest ever going being the second round.

Next. ASU Soccer: Sun Devils fall to Wildcats due to early corner. dark

Winkworth and the team sit in an interesting spot with two tough losses rounding out the season, but all will be revealed on NCAA.com tomorrow at 2:30 p.m. MT to see if they made the field of 64.

All quotes in this article were obtained firsthand by Devils in Detail unless otherwise noted.