Women’s soccer controls Arizona State game despite second-half slowdown

In many ways, the 2-0 victory for No. 11 UCLA women’s soccer (7-2-0) over Arizona State (5-3-1) to open Pac-12 play was business as usual. The Bruins controlled the ball and dictated the play virtually from start to finish. Also, the team took advantage of their scoring opportunities to push their win streak to four games.

At the same time, the troubling patterns that have formed in recent weeks continued to bother UCLA, especially injuries to key players. Senior forward Darian Jenkins and redshirt freshman attacking midfielder Anika Rodriguez both suffered injuries in the first half. Jenkins returned in the second half, but Rodriguez did not.

“It always hurts your rhythm when you have two starters go down,” said coach Amanda Cromwell. “I think we finished out the first half pretty well, but not having Rodriguez, who is an excellent possession player, in the second half hurt us.”

Much like the previous game against Long Beach State, UCLA put their best foot forward in the first half. The passing was crisp and incisive, allowing the attacking players to receive the ball in dangerous areas.

[Related: UCLA takes down Long Beach State 2-1]

A part of this can be attributed to star freshman Jessie Fleming’s return to the starting lineup. In a three-minute stretch, she collected two goals. Both were well-conceived, albeit in entirely different manners.

The first goal was the result of an excellent team sequence. Senior forward Amber Munerlyn received the ball in midfield and found Jenkins streaking in behind with a through ball. Jenkins attacked her defender before zipping a low cross to the center of the box, where Fleming strolled in and tapped the ball home.

[Related: Fleming heads in the golden goal as UCLA defeats Penn State 1-0]

The second was a beautiful individual play. Fleming got the ball outside the top of the box and took a touch to set herself up. Then she unleashed a screamer into the top left corner that gave the goalkeeper little chance.

“Fleming wasn’t even 100 percent, but in the first half she was phenomenal,” Cromwell said. “She’s just a great goal scorer.”

In just eight minutes, the Bruins were up two and the Sun Devils were under threat of getting blown out, but the injuries came. Rodriguez, who got the assist on the second goal, went down in the 12th minute and was kept out for the rest of the game. Jenkins left the game late in the first half and returned with limited effectiveness in the second half.

Whether it was the injuries or weariness, UCLA’s second half performance left much to be desired. The team still controlled possession, but suddenly Arizona State’s defense was impregnable.

“I feel like we were feeding to their defense a little bit too much towards the end of the game,” Jenkins said. “We played it down the middle and they kept taking the ball away. The key to that would have been using our outside backs and switching the play.”

As the second half progressed, the Bruins became increasingly stymied and the Sun Devils bossed them off the ball with rough physical play. They also kept the key attacking players in check by focusing their defensive energies on them.

“I think they man marked us a little bit, which is kind of frustrating at times, especially in the midfield when they’re one-on-one with us,” Fleming said. “That was difficult. I think we needed to skip lines and look for more one touches.”

Arizona State’s tactic proved successful and allowed their dormant attack to become a factor. The wide players began sending crosses into the box that were headed on target.

Freshman goalkeeper Teagan Micah, however, was up to the challenge. She got down quickly to her left and right to make important saves.

Micah and the stingy defense in front of her ultimately kept the Sun Devils off the board.

“In the second half, Teagan Micah came up big in keeping the clean sheet,” Cromwell said. “I think it was a tale of two halves. We finished our chances and they didn’t.”