Oct. 21, 2012
EUGENE, Ore. - Kaitlyn Pavlovich's goal in the 85th minute proved to be the game winner as the Arizona State women's soccer team came away with a 2-1 win over Oregon.
Playing without senior Courtney Tinnin (red card in Friday's game at Oregon State), the Sun Devils (7-8-2, 3-4-1 Pac-12) found themselves having to adjust their lineup for Sunday's game. ASU head coach Kevin Boyd would make additional tweaks after the Ducks (7-8-2, 2-5-1) scored a goal 83 seconds into the game to take an early 1-0 lead.
"We started the game really flat and I was very unhappy with that and so I made a few changes," Boyd said. "We went with some experience in the back and [Sierra Joseph and Kaitlyn Pavlovich] went in and did a great job. They showed great leadership and tightened things up back there and got us organized.
"I really liked our fight and response today after getting down a goal. I liked that we went deep into the lineup and got production out of a number of different players. It took a huge commitment from everybody and so credit to our team's character."
The Sun Devils, who outshot Oregon 12-7 in the first half and 20-15 for the game, tied the game in the 39th minute when Cali Farquharson took a pass from Nicki Stone and scored her team-leading seventh goal of the season.
"It was an outstanding goal by Cali," Boyd said. "There was great ball movement all the way around. Nicki [Stone] got in there and put one in Cali's path and she one-timed it from about 20 yards."
The two teams would go back and forth in the second half with each squad taking eight shots. Pavlovich scored the eventual game winner when she emerged from a scramble around the net and was able to poke the ball past Oregon goalkeeper Abby Steele. The sequence that created the goal began on a set piece as Joseph served the ball from beyond the circle. The Ducks were unable to clear it out and the ball bounced out to Farquharson, who then sent it to Kiara Williams. As Williams was trying to play the ball with a defender on her, the ball bounced out to Pavlovich who was able to finish it off.
"Credit to KP for finding a way to get the goal," Boyd said. "It was a service ball in the box and the ball was loose on the ground. She did kind of a sliding toe poke at it and slipped it under the keeper and into the goal."
Sunday's game was ASU's final road game of the regular season. After tying Oregon State 1-1 in Corvallis, Ore., on Friday and coming out with the win on Sunday, Boyd said he was quite pleased with the weekend's results given the high quality of play in the Pac-12.
"I thought we had a great weekend," Boyd said. "The Pac-12 is a difficult conference and so if you go on the road and come out of it with a win and a tie then you've had a great weekend."
The Sun Devils return to action on Thursday night when they host Utah at 7 p.m. at Sun Devil Soccer Stadium. The game will be televised live by Pac-12 Networks.