Although soccer is certainly not among the top reasons the Pac-10 expanded to 12 teams last summer, the ASU women’s soccer team will find out what the new conference additions bring this weekend.
On Friday, the Sun Devils will travel to Utah to face the Utes (5-4-1), a team that has won four out of its past five games after a disastrous 0-3-1 start, including their Pac-12 opener at Oregon.
“Going to Oregon and winning’s not easy to do, so that’s a good win,” ASU head coach Kevin Boyd said. “So obviously they’re doing something right, right now.”
Utah’s transition to the Pac-12 from the Mountain West is a bigger leap than the move Colorado made coming from the Big 12.
“I think the game’s going to be very different (for Utah),” Boyd said. “I think we’re a deeper conference top to bottom. In terms of the talent, I think the athleticism is higher and the quality of soccer (is also better).”
Eight different Utes have scored this season, but none have found the back of the net more than twice.
After their trip to Salt Lake, ASU will travel to Colorado to take on the Buffaloes (3-5-1). Colorado has been unlucky so far this season, finding the net with just 9.5 percent of its shots.
Boyd said it’s possible CU’s luck might turn around when ASU heads to Boulder.
“I heard one day they had 20-some odd shots and lost to a team that had three,” Boyd said. “They had 20 (shots) and only two of them go on frame. So what you don’t want is to be the team the day their shots go on frame and into the goal. At some point, all these chances are going to go in.”
While Colorado works on kicking their shots on-frame, ASU will hope some of their injured players return to the field.
Boyd said redshirt sophomore forward Nicki Stone will return to the field. Boyd also said he hopes sophomore forward Devin Marshall will return the following weekend.
Timetables are still unknown for sophomore defender Kaitlyn Pavlovich (back) and sophomore goalie Vittoria Arnold. ASU’s leading scorer, Alexandra Doller, is out for the season with an ACL tear.
“Those injuries hurt us, but we can’t look at that because the team that’s playing now is the team that has to win games,” redshirt junior forward Courtney Tinnin said.
Tinnin is another player who just returned for ASU. She had not played in regular season game since 2009.
Junior defender Kiara Williams, recently inserted into the starting lineup, said players can’t think about getting injured because that will increase the chances of them getting hurt even more.
“Watching from the sidelines is just totally another perspective,” Tinnin said. “Once that happens to you I think I look back on it and I took some of the things for granted when I was playing and now I realize there’s not many people in my position.”
Reach the reporter at justin.janssen@asu.edu
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