When a sub-.500 team takes on the No. 1 team in the country, the pundits expect them to lose.
But games aren’t played on paper. They take place on the field and anything can happen there.
ASU’s women’s soccer team (6-7, 2-3 Pac-12) finds itself in a David vs. Goliath matchup facing top-ranked Stanford (13-0-1, 5-0 Pac-12) on Friday.
Adding to the magnitude of competing against No. 1 Stanford, the game is being shown on national TV.
Playing on Fox Soccer won’t faze the Cardinal since it plays games on TV multiple times each year, but for the Sun Devils, this is a relatively new experience.
“Maybe it’s a little more exciting to be on TV, who knows, but it’s an opportunity to showcase our soccer as well,” coach Kevin Boyd said. “It’s just quite a challenge to do it against the very clear number one team in the country.”
Junior midfielder Aissa Sanchez likes this new stage she and her team will be playing on.
“I think it’s going to be a lot more fun knowing it’s on TV,” Sanchez said. “I think (the challenge is) just going to bring the best out of us if we step up to it.”
But Stanford is on a tear recently. They have lost twice since the start of the 2009 season. Both losses were national championship games.
In addition, they’ve won their last 56 regular season games dating back to the 2008 season.
Boyd said the team wasn’t worried about potentially getting blown out, like most opponents of Stanford this season have.
“We’re just going to go out and play our best,” Boyd said. “We’re not going to worry about whether we lose by a few or not. We’re going to try and win a game. Most important to us is we need to get a result out of the game.”
Freshman midfielder Jessica DeLeon, who now plays defense, said that playing Stanford is nerve-wracking for a first year player.
“Being a freshman, (facing Stanford is) a little bit intimidating since I haven’t played them yet,” DeLeon said.
History is on ASU’s side against Stanford, despite losing the past three times against the Cardinal. ASU has played Stanford tough at home with a 2-2-3 all-time record against the Cardinal in Tempe. One of those wins for ASU occurred when Stanford was No. 2 in the country.
That may not matter, though, because this year’s Stanford’s squad features First Team All-Americans and U.S. national team-caliber players.
“They’re just ultra-talented and extremely athletic and fast,” Boyd said. “They’ve been good for a while, so they have a culture of being really good.”
As with any No. 1 team, it’s difficult to find any weaknesses. In 2011, they have outscored their opponents 43-5 in 14 games, with 10 defensive shutouts.
Senior forward Lindsay Taylor leads Stanford with nine goals, but all of their forwards can score at any time.
Stanford hasn’t lost a Pac-12 conference game since 2008 and is in the driver’s seat once again this year for the crown after a 4-1 rout over No. 6 UCLA.
In a pregame ceremony, ASU will retire the jersey of Stacey Tullock, who will be the school’s first soccer player to have her jersey retired.
Reach the reporter at Justin.Janssen@asu.edu
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