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Sullivan is the Showstopper in Upset Win Over UCLA

by thesundevils.com
Mar 26, 2021
Cori Sullivan Scores the Golden Goal to Upset No. 3 UCLA

LOS ANGELES -- That's show business, baby! The No. 21 Arizona State soccer team (7-1-2) upset No. 3 UCLA (8-1-1) in a box office overtime thriller for the first Sun Devil win over the Bruins since 2000 and only the second ever in program history. Junior Cori Sullivan scored the golden goal, her first of the season, at Wallis Annenburg Stadium on Friday night. 

With the win on the road, ASU remains undefeated in Pac-12 Conference play. 

Sullivan was the overtime hero as she found the back of the net with only two minutes remaining in the first overtime. The Bruins were short handed in the last eight minutes of regulation and all of overtime after Kennedy Faulknor was handed a red card. 

"It's a fairytale for Cori," said head coach Graham Winkworth. "She's nine months to the day that she had surgery and she's been out so long and what a nice story."
 

Offensively, junior midfielder Olivia Nguyen scored the first goal for ASU to tie the game just as regulation play was about to expire. Defensively, Giulia Cascapera came up with two saves in her eighth appearance for the Sun Devils. 

With the overtime win, ASU remains undefeated in Pac-12 conference play. The win over UCLA ends a dry spell spanning two decades when ASU earned its first - and only - win over the Bruins in program history. 
 

UP NEXT: The Sun Devils head back home to face California at Sun Devil Stadium on April 2 at 7p.m. MST followed by a game against Stanford on Sunday, April 4. 

HOW IT HAPPENED

  • Giulia Cascapera made her eighth start of the season as goalkeeper 
  • UCLA got an early one goal lead 17 minutes into the first half when Kalia Novak found the net off a goal post deflection.
  • With just eight minutes left in regulation, Olivia Nguyen made it through traffic to tie the game at one a piece. 
  • Just seconds later, UCLA's Kennedy Faulknor is given a red card and played the remainder of the game with 10 players.  
  • At the end of regulation, the game remained tied at one. ASU had 12 shots while UCLA had 13. 
  • Cori Sullivan snuck past UCLA's goalkeeper in the 108th minute to secure the win for the Sun Devils in overtime. 

A WORD WITH WINKWORTH:
On upset:
"I'm overly proud of the whole squad. The energy from the sidelines, it's a whole squad, family effort. Seeing their faces and when the game-winner went in, I jumped up and me and Lara collided with each other and were laying on the ground celebrating, it was a really nice moment and I'm just really proud of them. They believe and as long as they continue to believe, the sky's the limit."
On undefeated conference record:
"I've never really given much credit to preseason polls whether we were No. 1 or No.12 because it's preseason and no games have been played. But these types of results and these types of performances show the team that they're capable of playing at that level. Tonight they were wonderful. We've got good players and we've got even more incredible people and their character - it is unbelievable. Just exceptional people. I want to give extra credit tonight as well to my assistant coaches - Chub and Sugar - because they talked about a potential tweak at halftime and I decided that it was a good move so we made that change and it certainly paid off as i think our midfield did a great job of controlling the game in the second half. 

On returning home:
"We're excited to get back home. We've had an incredible road trip. We picked up two wins from four matches and a tie and if you'd offered me 2-1-1 from those four games, I think on the road, you'd shake anyone's hand off at that. Excited to get back in front of our own fans and i want the girls to enjoy this moment as its the first time ASU has beat UCLA since 2000, so it's important tonight that we do enjoy the moment but tomorrow is a new day and our next game is the most important one of the season because it is the next game."

 

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