Junior Daisy Carter launches the ball against Long Beach State on March 22, 2015, at the Mona Plummer Aquatic Center. (Ryan Santistevan/The State Press)After a decisive 12-4 victory over San Jose State on Saturday, the Sun Devils split their games on Sunday.
“We had a really great Saturday,” coach Todd Clapper said. “We prepared all week for San Jose. Their the conference team. The team came out and played really really well. Really proud of them for that. They executed very well, a lot of good teamwork both offensively and defensively.”
Indiana
ASU would get first possession and score in the first 40 seconds off a lob shot from sophomore center Alkistis Benekou, her first goal of the day. Senior attacker Petra Pardi would score soon afterwards, giving the Sun Devils a 2-0 lead with under two minutes remaining in the first quarter. Indiana would score its first goal of the game at the 1:42 mark off a goal from senior center Shelby Taylor.
ASU would lead 2-1 at the end of the first quarter, after a very slow start.
Sophomore attacker Izabella Chiappini would score her first goal of the day with 4:24 remaining in the second quarter. A minute later, Junior center Abbey Kerth would score her first goal. Junior attacker Daisy Carter would score her first goal very late in the second quarter, giving the Devils a 5-2 lead at halftime, after an impressive defensive first half effort by ASU.
Indiana would come out of the locker room looking to make a comeback, scoring a goal early in the second half, chipping away at ASU’s lead.
Chiappini would score her second goal of the game with 3:28 remaining in the third quarter. Less than a minute later Pardi would score with her second goal of the game.
ASU would hold a healthy 8-3 lead with one quarter remaining to play. Benekou would score her second goal of the game in the opening seconds of the final period.
Indiana would score two quick goals in succession, vying for a late comeback, but it would be too little, too late. The Sun Devil lead was insurmountable, but ASU was not done yet. Pardi would complete her hat trick with five minutes remaining in the game. Redshirt junior goalkeeper E.B. Keeve’s 12 saves as well as ASU’s dominant second half, propelled the Sun Devils to victory, winning 12-5.
“The first half of the Indiana game was a little flat, it's hard but you kind of expect that after putting so much in to the Saturday game,” Clapper said. “But then in the second half we pulled away and it was a nice game.”
Long Beach State
Long Beach would win the first possession, but ASU would be the first to score. Pardi would score the first goal of the game, firing in a long shot past the Long Beach goalie late into the first quarter. LBSU would respond, scoring a goal of their own, tying the score. ASU would try to score a second goal before the quarter was over, but the shot would fall slightly short as the clock ran out.
Long Beach would score a very long shot halfway through the second quarter, with the ball skidding past Keeve, giving them the first lead of the game.
Freshman attacker Viviane Bahia would score with a minute left in the second quarter, tying the game once again. Keeve would block a ferocious backhanded no-look shot to finish out the quarter. The score would remain tied at 2-2 at halftime.
ASU would have a difficult third quarter, as Long Beach would shut them out, with no player being able to find the net, while being peppered with shots by LBSU. Three Beach shots found the back of the net in the period. One would come off a five meter penalty, giving the visiting team a one goal lead with 4:26 left in the third. Long Beach would score two more times before the period was over, pushing its lead to 5-2.
Near the end of the fourth quarter, the LBSU bench would erupt in outrage over a call, forcing the referees to hand out a yellow card. Pardi would score immediately after this infraction, with 6 minutes remaining in the fourth period, chipping away at the deficit.
With a 1:30 remaining in the game, Chiappini would get a steal, and ASU would have a two player fast break with only the goalie to beat, but the shot would rattle out. ASU would desperately look for any opportunity to score, however, its effort would be in vain, and ASU would lose, 3-5.
“We started our flat again, didn't work as hard as we needed to on defense,” Clapper said. “We didn't take care of each individual person on defense. Offensively we weren't shooting very well. That led to working harder, not smarter sometimes on offense, and so forcing it and not seeing the open player. It was a disappointing game this last game because they played really well on Saturday. Today they couldn't get into any rhythm at all both offensively and defensively.”
Clapper holds his team to a high standard, and was disappointed that the team lost to LBSU a week after beating them 10-5 on the road.
“There were some highs and some lows throughout the day. I don't think it was necessarily physical, I think it was mental,” Clapper said. “There was a lot of emphasis on Saturday, not so much on Sunday, because we were preparing for the conference game. A lot of missing open players. I don't know if it was fatigue, if it's focus, a little bit of both, but I think it was more mental focus. I think on Saturday everybody was really playing for each other and at their top level, and I think today we weren’t. Everybody as a whole was kind of up and down, and no consistently at a level that we expect."
After the loss, Clapper plans to pick up right where he left off, and hopes the team will forget the loss, but remember the feeling.
“It’s a tough loss, but we are going to rebound, get back at it on Tuesday and start preparing for Stanford and Hartway on Saturday. I hope everybody comes in with a little fire in their belly, ready to say we made a mistake, we paid for it, and we are not going to let it happen again.”
Reach the reporter at mtsteine@asu.edu or follow @MarcTSteiner on Twitter
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