Sara Tosti Named Pac-12 Women’s Soccer Offensive Player of the Week
TEMPE, Ariz. – Arizona State University sophomore forward Sara Tosti was named the Pac-12 Women’s Soccer Offensive Player of the Week, according to an announcement by Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott on Tuesday.
Tosti earned the award for her performance in ASU’s 1-0 upset of previously second-ranked Stanford on Sunday in which she scored the only goal of the game in the 24th minute. The win was a monumental one for the Sun Devils as it snapped Stanford’s 73-match unbeaten streak at home and its 44-match winning streak in conference play. The former dated back to 2007 and the latter to 2008.
ASU came out on the offensive against the Cardinal as it took seven of the game’s first 11 shots. Tosti took three of those shots, the last of which found the back of the net in the 24th minute on a strike from 25 yards.
It was the third goal of the season for Tosti, who is playing forward this season (her natural position) after spending her freshman year playing defender (played in all 21 games with 14 starts).
“I’ve really wanted to see Sara Tosti take more shots because she has an incredibly dangerous shot that dips all the time,” said ASU head coach Kevin Boyd, who became Sun Devil Soccer’s all-time leader in career wins (61) with Sunday’s win. “Also [ASU’s top two scorers] Cali (Farquharson) and Devin (Marhsall) tend to draw more attention which means that Sara is going to find more space if she is alert to it. I think she was thinking that and went and found herself some shots. You give her those shots and she’s going to find a way to score.”
It’s the second time in as many weeks that Tosti was involved in the game-winning goal. On Sept. 29 vs. USC, Tosti assisted on Devin Marshall’s goal, which came with 19 seconds left in ASU’s 1-0 win over the Trojans. It’s also the second time in as many weeks that a Sun Devil has earned Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week honors as Marshall was selected last week for her aforementioned last-minute heroics vs. USC. Marshall also earned the award last month.
The Sun Devils (7-4, 2-1 Pac-12) continue their current stretch of five straight games on the road this week when they travel to the state of Oregon for contests at Oregon (Fri., Oct. 11 at 7 p.m. PT) and Oregon State (Sun., Oct. 13 at 1 p.m. PT).