The ASU women’s soccer team (6-8, 2-4 Pac-12) is at the point in the season where it has to win.
With just five games remaining in the regular season, the Sun Devils can ill-afford to lose down the stretch if they want to make the NCAA tournament.
ASU is not in a good position to make the tournament with their record two games under .500 and an RPI of 98.
Players and coaches said at practice this week they need to get back into the win column to keep their season alive.
“At this point we’re kind of back against the wall,” senior forward Sierra Cook said. “We have to step it up and make something happen this weekend, and the weekends to follow.”
“We have to get a result in one of the two games, or that’s the end of that,” ASU coach Kevin Boyd said.
On Friday, the club travels to Los Angeles to take on USC (4-11, 1-5).
The Trojans are the biggest surprise in the conference this season, falling from the preseason Top 25 to next-to-last in the Pac-12.
What’s even more surprising is that the Trojans haven’t won in their home stadium all season, dropping all seven contests.
USC just snapped an 8-game losing streak last weekend when they knocked off Washington on the road.
Boyd said USC is better than their record indicates, and he couldn’t figure out how the Trojans lost some of the games that they did.
“They’re really young and I’ve seen them play on tape a couple times,” Boyd said. “Each time I’ve seen them play they should have won. They’re a really good team, really talented.”
After their game against USC, the soccer team plays fellow Los Angeles school UCLA (10-1-3, 3-1-2).
No. 7 UCLA provides a huge challenge for ASU, considering their record and the fact that the Bruins have not lost at home all season.
“From what everyone’s saying they’re probably the fastest team in the country,” Boyd said. “I heard today (Tuesday) they’re more athletic and more talented 1-on-1 than Stanford is. When you look at UCLA, they have a much younger team. They’re an explosive team that’s for sure, but they’re also young.”
Surprisingly, ASU and UCLA have scored the same amount of goals in 14 games with 20. However, the Bruins have a stingier defense and have only given up eight goals on the season, compared to 20 for ASU.
UCLA senior forward Sydney Leroux is a player ASU needs to contain if they want to have a chance. She has scored seven goals on the season – third in the conference and five of them have been game winners.
“These are teams that are always beatable, Cook said. “They’re definitely teams that we can play with. We just need to go out there and play our game and just get a result.”
Reach the reporter at justin.janssen@asu.edu
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