Sunday morning was not about any one player.
There was no pregame talk of any individual, nor were there thoughts on previous opponents. For the Sun Devils (7-4-3, 1-2 Pac-10), Sunday morning was about the team.
They knew that they were the underdogs, and they were well aware that their opponents were better individually, but according to coach Kevin Boyd, all they needed was to be the better team for one day.
And on Sunday, they were.
ASU beat reigning national champion USC 1-0 for its first Pac-10 Conference win this season. That was its first victory against a top-10 opponent since 2001, when it defeated then-No. 2 Stanford.
“It gave us confidence to win that game,” senior defender Kylla Sjoman said. “We’ve been close and haven’t put it away, so winning that game shows that we deserve some recognition.”
But after a little bit of celebration, the players are moving on. As they head to the Bay Area to face Cal and Stanford this weekend, the Sun Devils will look toward their competition and keep “team” in mind.
“It’s good to be happy about a win,” Boyd said. “But at some point, the celebration ends. Right now, our focus is on Friday night.”
In their first road trip in seven games, the Sun Devils’ competition won’t lighten up. They are scheduled to take on the Golden Bears (9-5-0, 2-2-0), and the No. 5 Cardinal (14-0-1, 4-0).
“Both Stanford and Cal are big powerhouses,” sophomore midfielder Jill Shoquist said. “They are very good, but we are very good too. It’s cool to know that we are playing against the best — it only pushes us to play better.”
Boyd, who was the coach of the Golden Bears for 10 seasons before coming to ASU, recognizes the difficult task.
“I don’t see it being any different from last weekend [against USC],” Boyd said. “They are still better, they are still deeper, and we are at their place — we are significant underdogs. In that situation, there are certain things you have to recognize.”
He said he anticipates that both opponents will possess the ball more, but Boyd will encourage his team to go into the weekend with the same mindset they have had all year.
“We need to go in and play our game,” Boyd said. “We need to recognize who we are playing and face them head on.”
The Sun Devils will be without junior defender Liz Harkin on Friday night, as she will be traveling with the under-20 women’s national team. However, junior midfielder Carly Kallas did not break her jaw in last week’s 3-0 loss to No. 3 UCLA and should be able to return to action against Cal on Friday night.
Reach the reporter at emiley.darling@asu.edu.
