ASU Soccer: Sun Devils attack falters, lose to Arizona 1-0

The Arizona State Sun Devils (10-5-1, 5-3-1 Pac-12) dropped a hard-fought match to rivals to the south, the Arizona Wildcats (9-0-3, 1-0-2), 1-0, at Sun Devil Soccer Stadium Friday during Senior Night.

“I want to praise the amazing senior class we have,” head coach Graham Winkworth said. “We’ve come so far in two years we went from 146^th to currently 42^nd in the RPI. And to do that in two years comes from our leadership in the senior class.”

The Wildcats came out hot, and in the seventh minute took the lead when redshirt junior defender Morgan McGarry blasted the ball from close range into the back of the net after a corner kick and two other shots were blocked.

The Sun Devils had chances of their own, in the 33^rd minute Sun Devil freshman midfielder Marleen Schimmer shot the ball just high of the goal from about 25 yards out. Schimmer finished the night with six shots with only two on goal.

Coming out of the halftime break, both teams put pressure on the goalkeepers. The Sun Devils put up a respectable performance in the outing, ending the game with nine of their three shots on frame. Defensively, sophomore goalkeeper Nikki Panas was tested by the Wildcats who fired 13 shots, but only three on goal.

The Sun Devils will stay at home to conclude the 2018 regular season with a match against top-ranked Stanford on Sunday, November 4^th at 3:00 PM MST.

“We have to be relaxed, we have to play our game and we have to play with composure,” senior captain Jemma Purfield said on the upcoming game. “They are a fantastic team, they are ranked number one in the country, it’s not going to be easy. We just have to believe and know that we can play anyone, when we play our style of soccer.”

Following that game, the Sun Devils will await their fate in the NCAA Postseason, with the field of 64-teams set to be announced Monday on the NCAA selection show at 1:30 p.m. MST.