No. 5 ASU sustained themselves through four overtime periods, defeating No. 7 Cal 7-6 with a game-winning goal by senior attacker Daisy Carter.
Senior Ago Gao said it was a long and emotional game.
“It was such a emotional game I am glad we did it,” she said. “ It that was like two games because you play a hour, you have overtime, sudden death, so it was like two hours.”
Gao was one of four ASU seniors honored during Saturday's match in their final home game. She calculated 121 career goals, 97 assists and 121 steals. Senior attacker Daisy Carter accumulated 61 career goals, 34 assists and 58 steals. Senior defender Katie Sverchek amassed 52 career goals, 32 assists and 59 steals. The last senior honored was center Abbey Kerth, who scored 63 career goals, 158 kickouts and 48 steals.
"What a storybook ending for their home career, and the seniors did a really great job, " said head coach Todd Clapper. "This group has been amazing from start to finish."
The first period was reactively a quite one, as both teams played solid defense. The Golden Bears found the net while scoring the first even-strength goal at the 2:04 mark. Senior center Emily Loughlin was credited with the goal with the assist coming form Stephanie Mutafyan. Neither team scored again in the first.
With 7:27 left in the second period, freshman attacker Maud Koopman evened the score at 1-1. However, Cal's Pippa Saunders triggered a scoring run for the Bears by sneaking one past ASU goalie Mia Mycraw. Then, Loughlin found herself back in the action as she drilled home her second goal of the contest.
The Sun Devils trailed the Golden Bears 3-2 heading into the third period.
ASU attacked hard in the third period to get a positive offensive effort. Koopman started the attack by scoring at the 3:02 mark to even the score at 3, and then senior defender Ao Gao scored to put her team up one.
The Sun Devils held the Bears scoreless during the third period.
Cal got a goal back in the fourth, but Kerth didn't waste time answering. She scored her second goal of the match, putting ASU up one and in great position to seal the game. However, Loughlin found the back of the cage, keeping her team alive and sending the game into overtime.
The game went into four overtimes before either team could pull ahead.
“What battle back forth for both teams,” Clapper said. “Cal played great, we knew they were doing really well at this point and we knew it was going to be really tough…. It was just a battle every minute.”
ASU played outstanding defense as they held sophomore driver Carla Carrega, one of the top scores in the country, scoreless. The Sun Devils' Mia Rycraw was outstanding in the cage, allowing six goals while tallying 18 saves on the day.
“We really wanted to force them to shoot from the outside since we have such an amazing goalie and really good blocks," Kerth said. “ It was really team defense overall … we wore them down and put it away at the end.”
Nonetheless, it was the late heroics by senior Daisy Carter that ultimately put the Sun Devils over the top. Carter scored the gaming-winning goal in the fourth overtime with one second left. While that goal was Carter’s first of the game, it will be the most memorable.
“It was unreal, there was a lot of pressure, but it was important to keep calm,” Carter said. “ I knew how much time was on the clock, but I had to zone out and just focus on what I needed to do; that was most important to me.”
Reach the reporter at chaz.frazier@asu.edu or follow @chaz_frazier on Twitter.
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