In its second game on the road in Boston, ASU soccer drew a 1-1 tie against Boston College.
The Sun Devils (1-0-1) didn’t have to travel far between the season opener to its second road game. The 3.8 miles between Boston College and Boston University may seem minuscule, but the six hour travel path leading to these games was no small feat.
Head coach Kevin Boyd stated the team lacked its regular fierceness in the second half, but proved no matter the distance ASU could handle business outside of Tempe.
"Friday we played a game to the wire whereas Boston College beat a team 4-1 which means they closed out the last minutes of their game with eight subs on the field and everyone else resting," Boyd said. "So theres a big difference there especially when you consider one team had a 6 hour flight on the road and the other didn't."
The first half against the Eagles (1-0-1) consisted of many opportunities from the both teams, but the match was dominated early by ASU.
"I thought we came out better than them," Boyd said. "We controlled the game for a little while and it would go back and fourth but I thought that a good portion of the start of the game we were in charge."
Just before halftime junior forward Jazmarie Mader put her team up 1-0 in the 36th minute with help from freshman defender Devyn Kelsey.
Mader’s first goal of the season was produced off a set-piece cross from Kelsey, where Mader won the in-air battle and headed the ball over the Eagles’ redshirt sophomore goalkeeper Alexis Bryant.
Both goals for the Sun Devils this season have come later than the 35th minute in each game. Boyd said the offense is still a work in progress.
"The offense is the piece that needs the most work right now but that’s very normal because the first thing we train is defending," she said. "The next thing we do is try and work on keeping the ball in our possession and we are definently not there yet, we’ve got to learn when to keep the ball."
The Eagles wouldn’t allow ASU to expand its lead and equalized the score in the 60th minute.
Redshirt junior midfielder Lauren Berman received a cross through the Sun Devils 6-yard box and made a sliding kick to tie the game 1-1.
"I think as the second half went on we were showing that we were the away team and I think we were looking a bit more fatigued and were really starting to battle ourselves to try and stay in it," Boyd said.
Apart from Boston College’s goal, ASU redshirt junior goalkeeper Megan Delaney helped validate her role as one of the Sun Devils go-to goalkeepers.
Delaney recorded nine saves off of Boston College’s 10 shots on goal.
"I would say she has done herself some serious service this weekend and I think she did a really good job," Boyd said. "The one thing I'm figuring out about her is that maybe not everything she does is technically perfect by our goalkeeper coaches, but I think she gets in the game and finds ways to keep the ball out of the net and that’s a pretty nice trait."
In the 90 minutes played Boston College took 22 shots with 10 being on goal. The Sun Devils took 13 shots with three being on goal.
No team would come out victorious in the double-overtime resulting in the 1-1 draw.
"This is one of our best weekends," Boyd said. "To go out on the road and play two opponents of that quality is very good results, a little disappointing because we wanted two wins but when you look at the whole picture we are still undefeated and we’ll keep building from this."
The Sun Devils will play their home opener Friday at 7 p.m. against Loyola Chicago.
Reach the reporter at kcvalen1@asu.edu or follow @kvalenzuela17 on Twitter.
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