The team looks to band together through the schedule ahead. Photo courtesy of Sun Devil Soccer.Coming off a loss to a nationally-ranked Stanford team, the ASU women’s soccer team hopes to bounce back as they start their conference games in Tempe.
The 4-5-1 Lady Devils started out 1-3, falling to opponents such as San Diego St. and Missouri. In both games, the Devils were the visiting team.
In their last four games, the team’s only loss is to the national defending champion Stanford Cardinals. A game full of missed opportunities and inconsistent play ended up in a loss for ASU, however no team has beat Stanford at home since 2008.
With the start of conference play, Head Coach Kevin Boyd has no plans of changing the way the team plays, or their season goals.
“We’re trying not to get ahead of ourselves, and we’re take one game at a time," Boyd says. “We have to be constantly improving, and making the little bits and pieces of our game better if we want to reach our goal of the postseason.”
So far, Boyd has been impressed with the attack of junior Devin Marshall and senior Taylor McCarter. In the team’s four wins Marshall, a forward, has scored five goals. McCarter, a midfielder, was named MVP of the Sun Devil Desert Classic.
Boyd stated that the "starting 11 are strong."
"I’ve been impressed with Holland Crook so far,” he says.
Holland Crook was able to knock in her first two career goals in Tucson while the Sun Devils were playing in the Cats Classic.
The five back-to-back road games to start the season didn’t go as planned for the Lady Devils, and the team seems deserving of a home crowd full of maroon and gold.
Over the next month, the Lady Devils will host six home games, ending with U of A on November 2 at home. The University of Southern California (USC) will play in Tempe on Friday, and nationally ranked University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) will follow on Monday.
ASU is looking to get payback on the USC Trojans, as they lost in an overtime thriller last year in Los Angeles. USC has a 4-4-1 record and a young team with 20 out of 36 players being a Freshman, so the Sun Devils will try to expose their inexperience.
The Devils hope to be in the postseason hunt-- even through the adversity ahead.
Marshall looks to be a driving force for the Devils. Photo courtesy of Sun Devil Soccer.
You can reach me at etrianta@asu.edu
