After 90 minutes of play, the Arizona State Sun Devils (7-3-1, 2-3-1 Big 12) left the field with their most significant margin of defeat this season. The Utah Utes (5-4-4, 2-2-2 Big 12) beat the Sun Devils 4-1 in Tempe, Arizona.
The Utes played a fast-paced game, emphasizing pressure on the ASU forwards. Utah’s star player, graduate student forward Taliana Kaufusi, scored in the 10th minute. This goal pushed her to 10 goals on the season, the most of either team.
Three more players scored for the Utes, which had only one goal over the previous four games before playing ASU. Sun Devil head coach Graham Winkorth credited the Utes’ success to sloppy play.
“I mean, it was Christmas everywhere,” Winkworth said. “We gave them gifts.”
Offensively, the Sun Devils were not much better. Missed passes, possession losses and an inability to capitalize on scoring opportunities defined this game. ASU trailed with just two shots on goal compared to the Utes’ 11.
“The problem was our quality,” Winkworth said. “We were brave, but our quality lets us down.”
Despite the three-point defeat, junior forward Cameron Valladares showed off her scoring ability, adding a goal early in the first period. Just five minutes after Utah took the lead, Valladares stole the ball, dribbled into the right side of the box and drilled a shot into the left corner of the net.
This was Valladares’s sixth goal of the season, and teammate Lucy Johnson, a fifth-year defender, was very complimentary of Valladares’s skills.
“Cam’s been very good for us all season,” Johnson said. “We know we can use a pace, and she’s very direct, which is brilliant. And I think maybe we need all of us to be like that at times and situations when we’re down.”
ASU has reason to be optimistic as long as Cameron Valladares is scoring. The Sun Devils will try to put this game behind them as they prepare to face the Baylor Bears (6-5-3, 1-3-2 Big 12) on Oct. 10 in Waco, Texas.
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