ASU soccer: Sun Devils fall in Territorial Cup at Arizona, 2-1

Arizona State finished out their regular season schedule in a tight battle for the Territorial Cup on the road against the University of Arizona.

Unfortunately for the Sun Devils, (5-11-3, 2-7-2), a late goal for the Wildcats broke a 1-1 tie to give Arizona, (10-4-4, 7-2-2), the victory and Territorial Cup trophy.

In the 38^th minute, Arizona broke through the Sun Devil defense as Hannah Clifford scored off a rebound, initially saved by Nikki Panas, ASU’s goalkeeper. In total, Arizona outshot the Sun Devils 9-1 in the first.

The second half was a bit of a different story as Arizona State came out hungry. The Devils’ seniors demonstrated they weren’t going down to their rivals without a fight.

After both teams had chances early in the second half, Jazmarie Mader broke through for the Sun Devils. Mader collected the ball just inside the right corner of the 18-yard box and ripped it past the Wildcats goalkeeper in the 68^th minute.

Only seven minutes later U of A would respond as Amanda Porter received a through ball into the box and took a shot that trickled under Panas even though she got a piece of it.

That 75^th minute goal for the Wildcats would ultimately prove to be enough despite being outshot by the Sun Devils 7-6 in the second half.

Although Arizona State lost the game and finished the season 5-11-3 and 2-7-2 in Pac-12 play, they finished inside the Top-100 which is about 50 spots higher than they finished last year.

Next year, the Sun Devils will look forward to Panas and Jemma Purfield returning and stepping up to lead this team to a winning season.