Farquharson’s Two Goals Lead Sun Devil Soccer Over Utah
SALT LAKE CITY – Cali Farquharson scored a pair of goals to lead the Sun Devil soccer team to a 2-1 win over Utah on Sunday.
The win snapped a three-game losing streak for the Sun Devils (10-5-4, 3-4-3 Pac-12), who held off a rally by Utah (8-7-4, 1-7-2) after the Utes scored in the 77th minute to cut ASU’s lead to 2-1.
“Our mentality was better (than it was in Friday’s loss at Colorado),” said ASU head coach Kevin Boyd. “It wasn’t just about competing hard, it was also aggressively attacking the goal and finding ways to get behind our opponent. Also, when possessing the ball we wanted to possess with a purpose and I thought we did that today. “
Farquharson scored goals in the 21st minute and the 69th minute to tally the 10th multi-goal game of her career.
McKenzie Berryhill assisted on Farquharson’s first goal after she slipped a pass through the middle to Farquharson, who then outran a defender and got her shot passed Utah goalkeeper Lindsey Luke, who slid in an attempt to prevent the goal.
Farquharson got free again in the second half and scored in similar fashion after taking a pass from Lucy Lara to score her 14th goal of the season.
“The first goal was great,” said Boyd. “Kenny gets the ball and drives one through and behind to Cali, who was running in stride. She collected it and put it by the keeper.
“In the second half we played her another ball in behind, but quite close and she just outran her defender. She beat her around coming inside and slotted one far post by the keeper.”
The Sun Devils would have to fend off a determined Ute squad before they could claim the victory. Down two goals, the Utes pressed hard looking to get back into the game. They were able to cut ASU’s lead in half in the 77th minute when Megan Trabert headed in a corner kick off the foot of teammate Avery Jenkins.
“They drove one to the back post and they were aggressively going after it,” said Boyd. “It was getting very physical and they came charging into our player who went up for it and hammered the ball in the goal. It was just really physical play in the back post.”
Not only were the Sun Devils able to hold off Utah’s push for the equalizer over the final 13-plus minutes of the game, but they very nearly got a third goal across.
“It was really intense in the final 10 minutes,” said Boyd. “It seemed like they had four forwards up top and they were pushing their backs and their midfield up looking for a second goal. We had a chance to bury the game and get a third goal and I thought we were going to do that and by not doing that it just left the game in balance.”
The Sun Devils were outshot by the Utes 15-13, but had a 7-4 advantage in shots on goal. Farquharson had five shots on goal while Tommi Goodman and Lara had one each. Goodman and Aly Moon each tallied two shots in the game. Chandler Morris made three saves to help the Sun Devils clinch their ninth season in program history with 10 or more wins.
With the two goals on Sunday, Farquharson tied Stacey Tullock for the second-highest number of goals by a Sun Devil in a single season (14). Tullock, who is ASU’s all-time leader in career goals with 50, also hold the single-season school record for goals (17 in 1999). Farquharson, who now has 34 career goals, moved two goals closer to tying Patrice Feulner (37 goals from 2000-03) for No. 2 on ASU’s all-time list.
The Sun Devils close out the regular season on Friday when they host Arizona at 2 p.m. in the in Annual Territorial Cup® Series Contest. The game will be televised live by Pac-12 Networks.