The Arizona State Sun Devils (10-1) looked to put themselves in the driver’s seat for the second day of the ASU Invitational on Saturday as they took on No. 19 San Jose State and Marist
ASU came out aggressive early, scoring just 30 seconds into the game thanks to sophomore 2-meter defender Zoe Frangieh who started an offensive explosion. ASU notched three of the next four goals to take a 4-1 lead heading into the second quarter.
SJSU answered with a couple of their own to apply the pressure back on ASU who held a narrow but comfortable 6-3 lead heading into the third quarter.
Time of possession seemed to favor the Spartans as they outshot ASU 30-23 in the game. However, it was the Sun Devils’ ability to finish tight around the net that was the difference in the match.
The third quarter was even with both teams finding the back of the net twice including ASU’s senior attacker Luca Petovary who added her fourth of the game with the Sun Devils ahead 8-5 heading into the fourth quarter.
Arizona State added another insurance goal and played aggressive defense to end the game. The lockdown defense secured the 9-5 victory.
The Sun Devils then focused their attention on Marist in the second match of the day.
Marist came out strong, scoring on their first possession just 19 seconds into the game to take the early 1-0 lead.
ASU quickly responded with three of their own including a pair from Petovary to take a 3-2 lead heading into the second.
Arizona State was all over Marist, capitalizing on impressive defense. ASU generated turnovers and found the back of the net successfully several times. ASU was dominating the time of possession and did not allow the Red Foxes to have any time or space.
The second quarter started and ended with a Marist goal but in between were four unanswered Sun Devils goals as Arizona State took a comfortable 8-4 lead heading into the third.
While the shots on goal were close in the game with ASU leading 36-27 it was once again the stout Sun Devils defense that was the difference maker forcing ten steals to Marist’s five in the match.
“We were able to rotate a lot today, we played our entire bench and we’ve been focusing a lot on our defense,” head coach Petra Pardi said. “Defense wins championships and there was just a ton of individual defensive effort Monday through Friday for the last three weeks.”
ASU was dominant again in the third quarter, outscoring the Red Foxes 6-2 to take a commanding 14-6 lead heading into the fourth.
The Red Foxes did have some breakaway chances to get back into the game but those chances were denied by sophomore goalkeeper Sanne Keijzer.
“Counterattack starts with good defense,” Pardi said. “Sanne is an amazing goalie that we can count on not only to make the saves that we need but also her passing ability full court is incredible and her passes are right on the hand right on target every time.”
The Sun Devils took things to another level scoring a whopping nine goals in the quarter to take the match 23-7 including another pair of goals from Petovary who set the Sun Devil record of nine goals in a single match.
“I’m very happy for her she deserves it,” Pardi said. “She’s a tremendously hard worker and it is no surprise that she is the one to break this record now because of the work that she puts in on a daily basis.”
The Sun Devils will be in action again on Sunday in the final game of the ASU Invitational against Ottawa-AZ at 11:30 a.m. AZT at Mona Plummer Aquatic Center.
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