TEMPE, Ariz.– Receiving immense pressure from the Houston offense, Arizona State’s defense fouled in the box in the 24th minute, setting up a penalty kick for the Cougars.

Sun Devil fans held their breath as sophomore goalkeeper Kennedy Zorn stood between the pipes with the responsibility of keeping Houston from taking the lead over ASU.

Zorn jumped to the right, but the ball kicked by Houston senior forward Adelhia Ghonda whizzed past her to the left and had no issue finding the back of the net, putting the Cougars ahead of the Sun Devils 2-1.

Houston (8-3-3, 4-2 Big 12) held its lead strong and took the victory over ASU (7-4-3, 2-3-1 Big 12), 3-2 on Sunday, Oct. 11, at Sun Devil Soccer and Lacrosse Stadium.

Head coach Graham Winkworth wasn’t happy with his team’s effort and contrasted it with their 1-1 tie against Iowa State just three days prior to Sunday’s match.

“Disappointed with the effort that we showed,” Winkworth said. “If we put in the type of effort that we put in on Thursday night, we would’ve been comfortable today.”

Four of the five goals in this match came in the first half, and three of those four were in favor of the Cougars.

“(Houston) deserved to lead at halftime,” Winkworth said. “They were the better team at halftime.”

The start of this match was extremely out of the ordinary, as it only took two minutes and thirteen seconds for both teams to find the net.

The Sun Devil offense struck first, as a pass from freshman defender Mya Angus brought Houston junior goalkeeper Sierra McClure out of the net to defend, giving junior forward Sierra Bergen room to deceive McClure and put the ball in the unguarded goal.

Sun Devil fans erupted in the crowd, and celebrations took place on the pitch, but the high spirits didn’t last long as Houston quickly worked the ball down the field, and senior forward Jocelyn Chinea found the net off an assist from sophomore forward Samira Minor.

“That was an awful time to concede a goal,” Winkworth said.

Houston would go on to score two more goals in the first half, both off set pieces set up by Sun Devil fouls. The first of these two goals was the aforementioned 24th-minute penalty kick given to the Cougars off of a foul on senior midfielder Emmie Ennis. 

Just five minutes later, a foul on junior forward Kierra Blundell set up a free kick for Houston’s senior midfielder Ava Shannon, who capitalized on the opportunity and extended the Cougars' advantage to 3-1.

The Sun Devils haven't given up three goals in a match, let alone in the first half, this season. Blundell attributes this outcome today to Houston’s talent and ASU’s bad luck. 

“We’ve just got to come together, we’ve got to watch our film and say, how can we improve on this and how can we not let it happen again,” Blundell said.

The 3-1 score held from the 29th minute of the match until the last ten minutes of play.

The physical, defensive back-and-forth that characterized the over 45 minutes of play without a score was the type of game expected from two teams that held their opponents to 10 goals or less this season heading into this match.

More than 80 minutes after their last score, Houston fouled in the box, setting up a penalty kick for ASU that Blundell took. She found the bottom right corner of the goal to reduce Houston’s two-goal lead to one.

It was evident the Sun Devils were playing with more desperation as their time to close the one-goal deficit dwindled, but it was too little, too late for Winkworth.

“Maybe we need to have a little more of that in the first half as well, so that you have that sort of intensity and desire when it’s nil-nil in the first half of the match as much as when you’re three-two down in the last 15 minutes,” Winkworth said.

ASU’s road ahead doesn’t get easier, as two of their next three opponents are ranked in the top 25. They start this three-game stretch with an away match against Oklahoma State this Friday.

“It’s a great learning opportunity for them every time we suffer this type of adversity in defeat,” Winkworth said. “But we have to learn quickly.”