After the ASU women’s soccer team ran all over the Lumberjacks during Friday’s 7-0 blowout victory, freshman forward Alexandra Doller said the conditioning at ASU was far tougher than it was at Tempe Marcos De Niza High School.
“It’s been rough; it’s more intense, everything is 10 times faster, stronger,” Doller said. “It was hard, but it’s been worth it.”
The strenuous conditioning was worth it for Doller in her first career game with ASU. She came off the bench and scored two goals in an 11-minute stretch.
“It felt really good to score the first two goals, especially in the first game of the year,” Doller said.
She also said she didn’t know whether all her experience as a goal scorer in high school would translate to the next level.
“Going to practice, I’ve been working hard to learn my teammates so well,” she said. “(But) I did not expect to score two.”
Hoarding possession
For the majority of the game against NAU, the Sun Devils maintained possession. This essential soccer skill is something head coach Kevin Boyd has instilled in the team for years.
“Our ability to possess and move the ball quickly is something that started almost three years ago when we were trying to improve,” Boyd said. “It’s gotten steadily better each year. I think one of our strengths is that we can do that.”
During ASU’s summer trip to Europe, the team excelled at controlling the ball, Boyd said.
“Our trip to Germany paid off because we kept the ball extremely well,” he said. “I was wondering how long it would take for us to start bringing that out. We got to see some of it (Friday). I don’t think we saw it all.”
Defense takes night off
Partly because ASU controlled the possession against NAU, and partly because the Sun Devils’ attack was firing on all cylinders, the experienced ASU back line was never seriously tested.
“There’s a couple reasons we didn’t get tested,” Boyd said. “We played well. We defended really well. When we didn’t have the ball for the most part, we absolutely worked relentless in our pressure. That’s why we didn’t have to defend that well.”
Boyd also referenced FC Barcelona’s coach, Josep Guardiola, and a comment he mad about how bad they were defensively. When Barcelona loses the ball, they use a high-pressure strategy and try to win it back as fast as possible.
“We’ve been joking about that,” Boyd said. “Yeah let’s defend less, let’s keep the ball more. When we do lose it, put them under pressure and get (it) back quickly.”
ASU predicted to finish 7th
The Pac-12 coaches predicted ASU to finish seventh out of 12 teams in the first Pac-12 season. The Sun Devils finished seventh in the Pac-10 two out of the last three seasons.
Stanford, the top team in the country according to Soccer America, was unanimously voted to win the conference. The Cardinal compiled a 26-1 conference record over the past three seasons.
Expansion teams Colorado and Utah were projected to finish 10th and 11th, respectively.
Reach the reporter at Justin.Janssen@asu.edu
