TEMPE, Ariz.-- The Arizona State Soccer team picked up their second conference win of the weekend, beating the Washington Huskies 2-1 Sunday afternoon at Sun Devil Soccer Stadium.
"I think to come away with a win when we only played well for thirty minutes of a game, I am delighted in that sense," head coach Graham Winkworth said of his team's win. "I think the later parts of the first half we played really well. We started the game slowly and in the second half we didn't come to the races at all. It wasn't like Thursday. I told the the team that one of the signs of a good team is grinding out results even when you are not playing your best and that's exactly what happened today."
Th Sun Devils put together offensive runs early in the first half, but did not find the back of the net.
Finally, in the 19th- minute, ASU forward Marleen Schimmer made a deep run into the midfield on a fast break. The streaking Schimmer threaded the needle with a great through-ball that found Nicole Douglas in a one-on-one situation, leading to the game's first goal.
"She's got that unpredictability and is always a goal threat," Winkworth said of Schimmer's ability on the ball. "I think she's good at playing in the front two and she's improved her reaction to making mistakes and is also defending very well."
With a 1-0 lead, the Sun Devils kept pushing and building pressure on the Husky defense. ASU earned a free kick in the 23rd- minute, but would come up empty when Schimmer blasted a shot off the reset that bounced off the post.
In the 35th- minute, Jemma Purfield connected with Douglas in front of the net on a corner kick for a set piece goal. The goal was Douglas second of the game and eighth of the season. The second goal also marked her first career-brace as a Sun Devil.
"She's a phenomenal player," Winkworth said of his freshman striker. "We always talk about the goals she scores, but I always bring it back to how hard she works. In training, I always bring it back to how hard she defends. For me, one of the plays of the weekend happened with about 30-40 seconds left at the end of the match, running in front of our bench against Washington State, she is still running down closing balls and blocking clearances. That shows a lot of character, so when you have players like that on the team, you're always going to have a chance."
With the 2-0 lead in hand, and the first half winding to a close, the Sun Devils prevented any offensive chances from the Huskies, holding the visitors scoreless through the first 45-minutes of play.
The Huskies scoring drought would end early in second half, when Washington forward Kennedy Smith found MaKayla Woods wide open near the right side of the net for an easy finish in the 47th-minute, pulling the score to a 2-1 ASU lead.
"Once they got a goal back we were slightly nervous," Douglas said of the early strike to begin the second half. "We all had to stick together, and that's what we did. We fought to the very end."
With the score reading 2-1, the sense of urgency increased from both teams. In the 66th- minute Washington midfielder Summer Yates took a free kick that would have been a tough save had it not been blocked by the Sun Devil defense. The Huskies regained possession of the ball in the box, but the stingy ASU back-line would hold to keep the threat at bay.
Later in the match, ASU defender Madison Wolf found herself on the attacking end of the pitch, blasting a shot right off the hands of Washington goalkeeper Siena Ruelas in the game's 72nd- minute.
In the final seconds of the match, Washington would put together one last run led again by Smith, who ultimately fired a shot wide of the net to seal the Sun Devil victory.
With the win, ASU completed their first weekend sweep in Pac-12 play this season, and improved to 3-3-1 in conference play. The win also marked the second for Winkworth over the Huskies after defeating the team, 1-0, last season.
The Sun Devils will be back in action on Thursday when they travel to Oregon for a two game tilt. The Sun Devils will start the weekend off with a match against the Ducks, Thursday at 5 p.m PT, before wrapping up the weekend with a meeting with the Oregon State Beavers on Sunday at 11 a.m. Fans can follow all of the action from the 2018 season by following @SunDevilSoccer on Twitter.
