The ASU women’s soccer team looks to maintain its high-powered offense when they take on Ohio State and Central Florida at the Wildcat Classic in Tucson this weekend.
The No. 19 Sun Devils (5-0-1) scored nine goals in two games last weekend and did a good job possessing the ball, two things redshirt sophomore forward Sierra Cook hopes will carry over.
“That’s always our focus, just keeping the ball, playing possession and trying to get forward with our midfielders as well as our forwards,” Cook said. “We definitely scored a lot of goals last weekend, which is really good for us. Something that we’re always working toward is scoring more goals.”
There is still room for the team to improve as well, said senior midfielder Alexandra Elston.
“We have a couple different things we’ve got to try to clean up,” Elston said. “Organization with our back line, and keeping the ball in midfield is always going to be a big one.”
ASU coach Kevin Boyd said he is also hoping to see a strong showing from his substitutes in Tucson.
“We need more players that are coming off the bench to add more quality minutes,” Boyd said. “I’ve been concerned with the depth of our squad. I want to have a rotation group of around 19 or 20.”
Boyd also said that he was pleased with the work done during training this week.
“If they can keep doing what they did in practice last night, we’ll be over 19 or 20 here soon,” Boyd said. “We actually saw for the first time some of our depth players show a little attitude and have some depth to them.”
The Sun Devils face off against an OSU squad (5-1-1) on Friday that is riding a five-game winning streak and has shut out their opponents in four of those games. Junior forward Caitlyn Martin was recently named Big Ten Co-Offensive Player of the Week for the Buckeyes.
“We know we’re going to be pressed probably more than we have so far,” Boyd said.
ASU will be the first ranked team the Buckeyes have faced all season.
On Sunday, the Sun Devils face a UCF team (4-2-0) that just had a four game winning streak ended by No. 8 Florida State.
“They are well, well organized and they play a good brand of soccer,” Boyd said. “They’re technical across the board.”
The Knights also boast four foreign players, which could add another level of sophistication to their team, Boyd said.
Both teams should provide a tough test for a streaking ASU team that has not lost all season.
Reach the reporter at elijah.grasser@asu.edu
