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Farquharson's Third Career Hat-Trick Leads Sun Devil Soccer to 4-1 Win Over No. 23 Arizona

by thesundevils.com
Nov 6, 2015

TUCSON, Ariz. – Senior Cali Farquharson tied the single-game school record with three goals and senior Chandler Morris made six saves to lead the Arizona State women’s soccer team to a 4-1 win over No. 23 Arizona on Friday night.

With the win the Sun Devils (9-8-1, 5-5-1 Pac-12) claimed the Territorial Cup® Series point for soccer – ASU now leads the overall competition 3.5-0 – moved their overall record above the .500 mark and finished tied for sixth in the Pac-12.

ASU has now won 17 of its 21 all-time meetings with Arizona (17-3-1) and this year's senior class – McKenzie Berryhill, Farquharson, Tommi Goodman, Whitney Kanavel, Lucy Lara, Alyssa Martinez, Morris, Rachel Ometer, Christina Rebata, Mackenzie Semerad and Sara Tosti – went 3-1 against UA.

“We tried to play our best soccer and I think there were moments when we played really well,” ASU head coach Kevin Boyd said. “Cali finished really well and (McKenzie Berryhill) had a great finish off a ball that was played back in by Aly Moon. I thought we managed the game pretty well as a whole, too.

“We finished tied for sixth in the Pac-12, which is higher than we did last year. We had a really good finish in conference play. Cali got a hat-trick, which is tremendous. To play your rival the last game of your senior year and get a hat-trick is incredible. What a wonderful way for her to go out.”

Farquharson scored 50 seconds into the game and 61 seconds into the second half. Her third goal, which came a little more than four minutes after her second one, extended ASU’s lead to 4-0.

Five of Morris’ six saves came in the first half while Semerad assisted on two of Farquharson’s goals.

With the three goals on Friday night, Farquharson, who missed 4.5 games this season due to injury, concludes the 2015 campaign with 10 goals (and 44 in her career) making her the first player in Sun Devil soccer history to record double-digit goal totals all four years of her career – 10 in 2012, '13 and '15 and a single-season, career-best 14 in 2014. It was also the third time Farquharson tied the single-game school record for goals. She did it as a freshman in 2012 in ASU’s 5-4, double-overtime win against USC – a game in which she set the single-game school record for most points (8) – and again in last year’s 5-0 win over Nevada in a game that was also played in Tucson. In the latter contest, Farquharson scored the three goals in the span of less than six minutes (5:46) of game time.

After ASU took the early 1-0 lead, the Wildcats slowly started to turn up the pressure on the offensive end. They nearly tied the game in the 28th minute when they got a wide open shot in front of the goal, but Morris came up with a clutch save.

“Chandler blocked it from probably six yards away. It was a tremendous save,” Boyd said. “(If Arizona scored) all of a sudden it could have been a really wild game. That would have put them right back in it.”

The momentum the Wildcats built up came to a halt in the 37th minute when the Sun Devils scored on the last of three consecutive corner kicks to extend their lead to 2-0.

The sequence that led to ASU’s second goal started after Tosti’s corner kick was initially hit out of the box. The ball came out to sophomore Aly Moon, who crossed it back into the box where Berryhill headed the ball into the back of the net for the goal.

“Aly Moon is such a great player at not letting a play die,” Boyd said. “She got on it, kept it inbounds with a volley back to the middle and Kenny in a very smart way headed the ball back against the grain and put it away.”

It was the second time in as many games that Moon and Berryhill teamed up for a goal as the duo combined on a nearly identical play in last Sunday’s 2-1 win at Colorado.

Just like she did in the first minute of the game, Semerad set up Farquharson's scoring opportunity in the first minute of the second half to put the Sun Devils up 3-0. A little more than four minutes later, senior Lucy Lara set up Farquharson’s third goal of the game.

The Wildcats (12-5-2, 6-4-1) got on the board in the 59th minute, but had only had one other shot on goal in the second half.

“Credit to them. They kept battling and they found a goal,” Boyd said. “It could have been dicey if they had gotten another one.”

Before the Sun Devils started to battle health issues – Farquharson’s injury, starting senior midfielder Tommi Goodman was lost for the season after nine games, Moon and starting defender Madison Stark both missed time and starting senior midfielder Whitney Kanavel was injured in ASU’s most recent game at Colorado – they played one of their finest games of the season in a 5-0 win over then-No. 14 Pepperdine on Sept. 11. Boyd said the Sun Devils’ win over Arizona very much resembled the team that was clicking on all cylinders in early September.

“We had our moments when we were just incredibly explosive,” Boyd said. “We knew coming in that Cali and Aly were the two players every one would focus on. Aly had such a challenge where she had to work her way back from surgery in the offseason and get her game back and she clearly has it back at this point. Cali was Cali until she got hurt. It was nice to see Jessica Raybe’s emergence (four goals in last seven games of the season) as an impactful player for us. It made our front line that much better and I feel like (Jazmarie Mader) is emerging as well.”

Arizona set a single-game attendance record with 1,302 fans on Friday. Although the overwhelming majority of the crowd was cheering against ASU, Boyd said Arizona’s fans helped to create a great atmosphere.

“I love the crowd that they had tonight. I love our crowd when it gets like this,” Boyd said. “There were a lot of people, it was loud, and we love that atmosphere. I told our team coming in, it does not matter if it is a hostile environment or not. It is fun. These are the games you enjoy the most.”

The Sun Devils concluded the 2015 season with wins in five of their final six games, including a pair of wins against teams that had a top 20 RPI coming into the game – Washington (No. 18 RPI) and Arizona (No. 17 RPI). Both wins also came on the road.

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