Well-rested and energetic, the ASU women’s soccer team heads into its conference opener against Washington State with confidence.
The No. 25 Sun Devils (6-2-2) haven’t scored a goal in their past three games, but the team is looking to turn that around after having last weekend off to recuperate, senior midfielder Alexandra Elston said.
“I think it definitely just gave us our legs back,” Elston said. “We definitely have a lot more energy.”
ASU coach Kevin Boyd said the first half of the season was tough on the youthful squad.
“For the younger players, they’ve never gone this hard, this long, this intense,” Boyd said. “The whole group just looked dead in the eye when I was talking to them, so I knew they needed a break. I’m hoping this really helps us.”
Elston also said it will be important for ASU to open up conference play with a solid start.
“It’s definitely going to set the tone for the rest of the Pac-10, so we need to go out and play well together,” Elston said.
On Friday, the Sun Devils play a WSU squad (5-6-0) currently on a three-game winning streak. The Cougars are led in scoring by a pair of freshmen, forward Micaela Castain and midfielder Eileen Maes, who scored the first hat trick of her collegiate career on Friday in a 4-0 win over Gonzaga.
WSU has not defeated a ranked team all season, but Boyd said he expects a tough game from the Cougars.
“They’re going to be physical and they’re going to play a nice brand of soccer,” Boyd said. “They’re going to try and move it around a bit, although I think they’re going to be a little bit more direct than some of the teams we’ve played.”
The Sun Devils then face Washington (7-3-1) on Sunday. The Huskies are coming off a tough double-overtime loss to No. 2 Portland.
Like WSU, Washington has lost to all three ranked teams it has faced. However, the Huskies have a winning record and have scored 21 goals so far this season, three more than ASU.
“They are a good organized team, and they play a nice style of soccer also,” Boyd said.
Both games could be played on very wet, soggy turf, particularly at WSU, something rare in Arizona, Boyd said. However, the storm on Tuesday provided ASU with practice conditions similar to what could be seen in Washington.
“Any time we can get on a field that is wet and skips and all that is good for us,” Boyd said.
Boyd said he doesn’t expect the field condition to be too bad this early in the year, but the extra practice is welcome.
Freshman midfielder Holland Crook said she doesn’t think starting conference play away from home will affect the team too much.
“I think we’re all up for the challenge,” Crook said. “It is definitely different weather, but there are five of us from there. I know that’s home for me, so that’s exciting. I think we’ll be fine.”
Reach the reporter at egrasser@asu.edu
