This article was originally published on February 20, 2023.
The Arizona State Sun Devils (1-0) came out victorious in a very close and entertaining affair, sending the St. Bonaventure Bonnies (0-3) home with a 16-13 loss on Saturday night.
ASU’s offense put on a show as eight different players got on the scoreboard. Graduate midfielder Kaylon Buckner, Freshman attacker Teagan Ng, and Sophomore midfielder Berit Brookfield all recorded hat tricks.
“I felt really good out there, definitely saw the team’s performance,” Buckner said when asked about how she felt about the game.
It didn’t take long for the Sun Devils to get their offense rolling as Buckner opened the scoring just 1:43 into the first quarter, giving ASU a 1-0 lead.
Just 20 seconds later, the Sun Devils scored again with the help of Ng, who collected her first goal of the season.
ASU put three more into the back of the net in a span of two minutes, making it 5-0 and it was beginning to look like this was going to be a long hard game for the Bonnies.
With just about seven minutes remaining in the first quarter, St. Bonaventure was finally able to get one past ASU with a goal from sophomore attacker Fiona McGovern, who had herself a night scoring her first of many.
The 2022 Atlantic 10 All-Rookie Team member McGovern collected her second of the night and cut the Sun Devils lead to three.
ASU was able to put up one more on the scoreboard before the end of the first quarter as Buckner picked up her second to make it a 6-2 game.
Not only was the offense firing on all cylinders for ASU early, but they were able to shut down almost all of the Bonnies’ high-danger scoring chances. The defensive effort from ASU in the first quarter propelled the Sun Devils to generate their six goals.
ASU picked up right where it left off with two quick goals to start off the second quarter. Goals came from Junior attacker Mina Scott and Brookfield who tallied her second, making it 8-2 in favor of ASU.
The strong defensive display that the Sun Devils were showcasing suddenly vanished, though. This collapse in the defensive zone allowed St. Bonaventure to stop the bleeding and come back with four unanswered goals. Their surge of offense left the score at 8-6 ASU with four minutes left in the second quarter. McGovern scored her third goal and Sophomore attacker Jessica Notaro scored two.
Scott collected her second and Buckner scored her third goal before halftime to give the Sun Devils a 10-6 lead.
“We made some adjustments on some runs, I think quarter to quarter shifted a little, I’d like to see some more consistency,” said ASU coach Taryn VanThof when asked about her teams’ ability to stay strong and be able to hold on to the lead when the Bonnies pushed back in the second quarter.
Less than two minutes into the third quarter, St. Bonaventure’s Notaro scored her third of the night to make it a three-goal game.
The rest of the third quarter was all ASU as the defense-first style of play from the first quarter came back and the turnovers they forced out of St. Bonaventure allowed them to turn the ball up the field and capitalize with four in a row. Graduate attacker Katie Brodsky found herself with two, and both Brookfield and Ng scored their hattrick goals.
It was 14-7 for the Sun Devils before St. Bonaventure freshman midfielder Megan Schillinger scored on a buzzer-beater giving the Bonnies some juice before the start of the fourth quarter.
ASU had doubled up on their opponents and was up 16-8 with 7:51 left to go in the game.
The Bonnies were not done yet, as they attempted to keep the game interesting down the stretch. St. Bonaventure scored five late unanswered goals, one from Notaro who finished with four on the night, three more from Mcgovern who racked up six, and one from junior midfielder Kassi Hogan.
Despite the valiant effort exhibited by St. Bonaventure late in the game to try and even things up, ASU held on to hand the Bonnies their third loss of the season.
“A win is a win and it was a huge win at home,” VanThof said. “We hit the road and we are ready, we are ready to roll.”
The Sun Devils will take a trip to Penn State next as they take on the Nittany Lions on Friday.
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