Teammates celebrate after scoring a goal in a scrimmage against NAU on Aug. 15 in West campus. (Photo by Emily Johnson)Entering the season, there was cause for concern.
The ASU soccer team (4-1-1) lost five starters from last season (forward Devin Marshall, midfielders Holland Crook and Rachael Ritter and defenders Jasmine Roth and Kaitlyn Pavlovich).
The starting lineup ASU used Sunday was hardly recognizable when looking back at last season. Only junior forward Cali Farquharson and redshirt junior goalie Chandler Morris started in the same position as last season’s finale.
But even with all the new faces, ASU upset then-No. 6 Texas A&M; (4-1-1). ASU allowed just one goal in the two games last week, despite playing without its top defender (junior McKenzie Berryhill).
Too often, the focus is on players a team loses, not on those it gets back.
Graduated players have made their mark, and it’s difficult to project a team with unproven players.
“Obviously, I couldn’t be happier right now,” ASU coach Kevin Boyd said. “I told (the team) I thought we gave them the most challenging first three weeks that our program has had at least in my tenure here.”
Boyd has been with ASU since 2007 and appears to have the Sun Devils trending upward.
ASU has risen to the challenge and the team is off to its best start, at least from a win-loss-tie perspective, since 2010.
However, the finish is always more important. In 2012, ASU started 1-4-1 and made the postseason, while it was 4-1 at the start of last year and didn’t.
Conference play proves to be another animal. Little separates most of the teams. The top of the Pac-12 is elite too, with defending national champion No. 1 UCLA (5-0-1), and No. 4 Stanford (4-0-1).
Last year, ASU beat then-No. 2 Stanford on the road, but struggled offensively down the stretch, going 2-4-2 following the upset. The team scored eight goals in its final 12 games. This year, the team’s deep roster may allow it to bypass prolonged scoring droughts.
Against Texas A&M, two unlikely heroes saved the day. First, junior defender Rachel Ometer came off the bench and scored the equalizer off a set piece. It was Ometer’s second goal of the season, but she played in just two games last year.
With three minutes remaining in the game, redshirt junior midfielder Mackenzie Semerad converted the game-winner, her first since 2011, when she played for East Carolina.
At times, depth issues were apparent last season. Roth, Pavlovich and Berryhill nearly played every minute in the back line during 2013. Only two starting positions were ever in doubt. This year, the starting lineup has been tweaked more. Redshirt junior goalie Chandler Morris, a two-year incumbent starter, was pushed by freshman Lexi Bounds, for example.
And the substitute players aren’t just getting in the games to give the starters a breather; they’re significantly contributing to the team's wins.
Offensively, eight different players have scored goals for ASU through six games. In 2013, only six players scored for the Sun Devils all season.
“We thought our talent was good like last year, we thought we were younger, so maybe we didn’t have as much experience, but we thought our depth was better and that’s what’s showing to be the case right now,” Boyd said.
That doesn’t mean ASU doesn’t still have its go-to scorers. ASU possesses two in Farquharson (10 goals in each of the last two seasons) and freshman midfielder Aly Moon (five goals in six games).
Moon’s five goals scored thus far are the most by a freshman competing in a Power Five conference, tied with one other player. In just her second career game, she completed a hat trick against Hawaii (2-4).
At 5-foot-1, Moon’s the shortest player on the team, but she’s fast and instinctive on the field.
“She reads the game very well,” Boyd said. “That doesn’t come and go.”
Reach the columnist at Justin.Janssen@asu.edu or follow him on Twitter @jjanssen11
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