The ASU soccer team started the Pac-10 season off on the wrong foot, literally.
As the team was running out of the locker room for its Pac-10 opener against Oregon State, freshman goalkeeper Briana Silvestri slipped and hit her head. The fall left her with a concussion and abruptly ended the California native's season.
"This season was extremely challenging with the adversity that we had," coach Ray Leone said. "There wasn't a week that went by where something didn't happen to our team."
Two key injuries hurt the Sun Devils before Pac-10 play began, as junior forward Courtney Crane and senior defender Kelley Bond were both sidelined with torn ACLs early on.
"Obviously, we wished they were out there with us, but that's the way it goes sometimes," senior forward Liz Bogus said.
With those setbacks, Leone looked for help from his bench.
"It was 'plan A' then 'plan B' and then 'plan C,'" Leone said. "Every time something happened, someone new would step up and perform."
One of those players was senior defender Juanita Lawson, who provided ASU with some fresh legs off the bench for most of the season.
The start of the season was highlighted by some incredible come-from-behind victories, led by Bogus.
Against UC Irvine, Bogus almost single-handedly won the game for ASU, scoring the game tying and game winning goals.
She did it again against UC Santa Barbara, scoring the game-winning goal in overtime.
"Those two games were really good wins at the beginning of the season," Bogus said. "It was a good way to set the tone."
Bogus also played through a case of food poisoning during a home match against San Diego. Prior to halftime, she was taken to the locker room and given intravenous treatment so she could continue playing.
"I wanted to be out there whenever I could and help the team," Bogus said. "I didn't want to look back and have any regrets about that game."
ASU started the Pac-10 season with an overtime loss to Oregon State.
However, the team responded by going on a three-game winning streak heading into its toughest stretch of the season.
"We were looking to have a good start and we did," senior midfielder Brittany Cooper said.
ASU played No. 25 Stanford to a 0-0 draw in the following game and lost to No. 10 California after that, which setup a do-or-die match against rival No. 25 UA the following week.
In front of the largest crowd in Murphey Stadium history, the Sun Devils took an early lead against the Wildcats in Tucson. UA then tied it up before senior midfielder Manya Makoski took a pass from Cooper and scored the game-winning goal while simultaneously breathing new life into the team's postseason hopes.
"The team was really excited because it was a big win for us," Bogus said. "We thought if we got one more win, we could make it [to the postseason]."
With the season on the line in the final weekend of play, ASU lost two heartbreaking games to USC and No. 4 UCLA, dashing any chance of making it to the postseason.
"Not making it was extremely disappointing and sad," Cooper said. "We had such a good team, which is why it makes it so hard to swallow."
This was the second consecutive season, and the third in Leone's five-year coaching tenure, that the Sun Devils failed to reach the postseason.
In addition to the myriad of injuries, ASU failed to execute in certain facets of its game, the most notable being corner kicks. The Sun Devils led the conference with 120 corner kicks but scored only once off of those opportunities.
"It's a simple thing, but they just didn't seem to go with us and we tried every kind of corner kick possible," Leone said.
In conjunction with this, the Sun Devils ran into a familiar problem late in the season when they were unable to score many goals. In the final five games of the season, ASU only scored three goals. This was a challenge the team faced last year and was looking to rectify this season.
"That's a struggle for every team," Cooper said. "Goals aren't going to come easy, and we had our chances. They just didn't go in."
Leone never gave up on his players, though.
"I want to take another team picture because I want to remember this team as the team that never quit," he said.
Reach the reporter at thomas.j.kelley@asu.edu.
