This women’s soccer player led the nation in goals last year. Boise State now knows why
Arizona State forward Nicole Douglas led the nation last season in goals (19), goals per game (0.95) and points per game (2.25).
The Boise State women’s soccer team learned the London, England, product is as good as advertised.
Douglas scored two first-half goals to carry the Sun Devils to a 2-1 victory over the Broncos on Thursday in a nonconference match at Boas Soccer Complex.
“In open spaces we knew that they were talented,” Boise State coach Jim Thomas said. “And she’s not just good good, she’s next level, pro level, full national team good. And you can’t give them that amount of space. So the error was really on our part.”
Douglas gave the Sun Devils an early advantage with a goal in the 8th minute. She struck again on a counter attack in the 25th minute as Arizona State outshot the Broncos 8-3 in the first half, including a 4-1 edge on goal.
Thomas said the game came down to confidence between his Group of Five program and the Power 5 school.
“We have to believe we are as good as we are,” Thomas said. “And when we do that, look out. We’ll stop everything. We’ll overwhelm everybody. We’re so deep, talented and together. You can see that in performances like this. Hot day, go down two goals against a very, very good team and the top goal scorer in the country. It would be really easy for us to give in and people will probably say there’s the difference between the levels.
“That’s not what this group are about this year. That’s not what this group were about in this game. The issue for us is in each of these journeys, we’re having to prove to ourselves and go through this metamorphosis that we deserve to be there. And I think on the basis of that second half, there’s not one person that was at the game today that would have thought we didn’t deserve to be out there.”
The Broncos outshot the Sun Devils 6-2 in the second half, with five shots on goals and four corner kicks. Morgan Stone, Abby Bivens, Macie Nelson and Sophie Drown each had shots stymied by Arizona State goalkeeper Pauline Nelles in the second half.
But junior midfielder Morgan Padour broke through for the Broncos with her first goal of the season on a cross from teammate Dorian Goodwin in the 74th minute. It was Padour’s fourth career goal for the Broncos, second-most among active players.
“Jim was just telling us, ‘early crosses,’” Padour said. “And that’s exactly how the goal came. If all of us are trusting the process, I think we could beat anyone.”
Boise State continues nonconference play when it hosts UC Riverside at 1 p.m. Sunday. The Broncos then hit the road for four straight games, at Oregon State (Sept. 1), Oregon (Sept. 4), UC Davis (Sept. 8) and CSU Bakersfield (Sept. 11).
“Now we can zero in on we need to be who we are and if we lose, we lose. It doesn’t really matter,” Thomas said. “What matters is that we go down representing this university and community the way we want to do it, regardless of who we play.”
This story was originally published August 25, 2022 at 9:21 PM.
