TEMPE, Ariz. — On the morning of Friday, March 11th Azusa Pacific fell to No. 10 ranked Arizona State, 12-6, in its first game of the Arizona State Cross Conference Challenge. The Cougars are now 6-6 overall this season.
The team's scoring leader, Milena Guzmán Ortiz, led the way with three goals on seven shots. Shyanne Rainey was able to find the back of the net twice and Kyra Kahahawai had the final goal. The Cougars were able to score six goals from their 28 shots with two coming on power plays.
Kate Green-Jones recorded 10 saves in three quarters against the Sun Devils which gives her a total of 83 total saves so far this season.
How it Happened: It was Arizona State who secured the ball on the first sprint of the game but Green-Jones was able to get the save on the first shot of the game by the Sun Devils.
After back-to-back turnovers and another save by Green-Jones, Skylar Ford was called for an exclusion which allowed the Sun Devils to score on the power play. ASU was able to score again a few seconds later to double their lead, 2-0.
At the 1:17 mark, Arizona State received an exclusion and Rainey scored on the one man advantage with the assist from Guzmán Ortiz. A few plays later, Guzmán Ortiz found the back of the net to tie the game up 2-2 heading into the second period.
In the second period, Arizona State scored off an Azusa Pacific turnover followed by a goal on a power play by Guzmán Ortiz to tie up the game yet again.
The Sun Devils were able to score two more goals to make it 5-3 before Guzmán Ortiz found the back of the net for her third goal of the game to make the score 5-4.
Turning Point: Arizona State tallied the final goal before the half before scoring three unanswered in the third period taking a 9-4 lead. Kahahawai was able to score (even strength) in the last 50 seconds of the period to cut the deficit to four, 9-5. At 5:09 in the fourth, Rainey scored with an assist from Ford which would close out the Cougars' scoring the rest of the game.
Olivia Lott entered as the goalie for the last period and was able to capture three saves but the Sun Devils tallied the final three goals of the game to win, 12-6.
Up Next: On Saturday, March 12th the Cougars will have a doubleheader on day two of the tournament. The first game against Marist will take place at 9:15am (MST) / 8:15am (PST) and the second against Harvard will have a 2:30pm (MST) / 1:30pm (PST) start time.
