Soccer defeats Washington on Senior Day
Senior forward Sierra Cook's goal with just over 10 minutes remaining in regulation proved to be the game winner on Sunday as the Arizona State women's soccer team closed out the home portion of its 2011 schedule with a 1-0 win over Washington.
The Sun Devils (7-11, 3-7 Pac-12) rang up more than twice as many shots (13-6) as Washington (7-8-2, 3-5-2 Pac-12) while allowing only two shots on goal as the team recorded its seventh shutout of the season.
"I thought we played sounder in terms of trying to take care of little details and be smarter that way," ASU head coach Kevin Boyd said following the match. "We didn't give up anything free and that is really important."
ASU outshot the Huskies 9-2 in the first half but was not able to break through for any goals.
The pressure the Sun Devil attack exerted on the Huskies would pay dividends late in the game when junior Alyssa Freeman found Cook breaking free behind the Washington defense. Cook took the pass from Freeman and beat Washington goalkeeper Jorde LaFontaine-Kussman with a shot to the far post for the 11th goal of her career.
"Great goal," Boyd said of Cook's goal with 11:31 left in the contest. "Sierra had an outstanding game today and I'm really happy that she got to play that way in her last home game. It's very fitting that one of our seniors gets the goal and it's the game winner and she's from Washington and so all of those pieces kind of fell together and I'm very happy for her."
The Sun Devil defense would clamp down for the final 11-plus minutes of the game to give senior Sun Devils Cook, Nicole Acosta, Courtney Giovanni, Kate Sangster and Kari Shane a win in their final home match at Sun Devil Soccer Stadium.
Leading ASU on the defensive end was junior goalkeeper Alyssa Gillmore, who made two saves to record her fifth shutout of the season and the 11th of her career.
The Sun Devils close out the 2011 season next Friday (7 p.m.) when they travel to Tucson, Ariz., to take on Arizona in the annual State Farm Territorial Cup Series game.