In many ways, their team was better.
No. 8 Virginia was ranked higher, and on paper, its statistics were more impressive.
But despite the Cavaliers’ prowess, the ASU women’s soccer team battled Virginia to a 1-1 double-overtime tie on Sunday.
“Virginia is an outstanding team,” coach Kevin Boyd said. “In many ways, they’re a better team than we are right this minute, so for us to [tie] … that’s a great result for us.”
This was a game that took a little more than technical skill, and asked for something extra. It was an opportunity not only to play a top-10 team, but also to experience the competition of a cross-country opponent.
“A big part of it was just a pride factor,” said freshman forward Kiara Williams, who scored the lone goal for ASU on Sunday. “We were the underdogs, but we still wanted to come out here and show them what we had and try to get the win.”
With Sunday’s tie, ASU finished the Sun Devil Classic Tournament 1-0-1.
“It feels good,” senior defender Liz Harkin said. “I think we came out here and played our game. We wanted to see how we matched against a very strong opponent, and I think we held our own. We did very well out here today. We’re proud of our performance.”
Coming off of a 1-0 win over Old Dominion on Friday, the Sun Devils (3-1-1) matched up against their toughest opponent so far this season in UVA.
Less than 10 minutes into Sunday’s game, UVA sophomore forward Lauren Alwine put one away to give her team a 1-0 lead.
But this early goal turned the momentum of the game around, giving the Sun Devils the motivation they needed to come back with a goal of their own.
“We showed a lot of character,” Harkin said. “We went down 1-0 and fought back. We fought back through a lot of adversity … we didn’t let that affect us.
We just kept pushing through, because we wanted this game.”
It was the substitutions that came from Williams and juniors Lindsey Johns and Karin Volpe that helped to increase the energy of the Sun Devil attack.
Their substitutions proved vital, and in the 20th minute, Williams took a pass from Volpe to score the goal that tied the game.
“It takes a few games to work out some of the kinks of preseason,” Harkin said. “I think it’s really starting to come together. We said from the beginning that we were excited about this team and this year, and I think it’s definitely coming out.”
Friday’s win and Sunday’s tie weren’t the only things the Sun Devils took from the weekend, Boyd said.
“There were five pieces we were working on, and we did far better with all of those,” Boyd said. “We wanted to start faster, have better defensive organization — which we were better at trying to possess the ball — be more focused on our set pieces, which on the defensive end was better. It wasn’t perfect — we need a little bit more on the offensive end — and then we needed to communicate better.”
At the tournament’s conclusion, Harkin, Williams and sophomore defender Katie Shepard were named to the Sun Devil Desert Classic All-Tournament Team. Harkin also earned the Defensive MVP honors.
With their performance, and the results that came from the weekend, Boyd said the Sun Devils are going to take some confidence into next week’s practice and next Friday’s game against San Diego State.
“We just matched up to what I would consider one of the top five teams in the country,” Boyd said. “I know they’re ranked eighth, but I think they’re better than that. So we just played them in a dead even time. I think we should take some confidence out of that.”
Reach the reporter at emiley.darling@asu.edu.
