(Photo by: Maya Diaz/ WCSN)
TEMPE — With only three games remaining in the 2024 season, the Arizona State soccer team is still looking for one final push to qualify for the Sprouts Farmers Market Big 12 Soccer Championship.
ASU currently sits in 11th of 16 places in the Big 12 standings, which is good enough to qualify for the conference tournament, but only just. With the top 12 teams qualifying for postseason play, the Sun Devils are currently tied with 12th-place Cincinnati but hold the head-to-head due to their 3-1 victory over the Bearcats three weeks ago. UCF and Iowa State sit just behind Cincinnati, both with conference records of 1-3-3.
Luckily for ASU (7-5-3, 2-5-1), it can begin to pull away with a win Thursday night against Kansas State (3-9-3, 0-6-2). The Wildcats tied against UCF and Iowa State, meaning that if the Sun Devils win they’ll own the tie-breaker with the Knights and Cyclones, based on wins against common opponents.
Coming into Thursday night’s matchup, the Wildcats are still without a win in conference play, Kansas State has managed six losses and two ties, putting the Wildcats in 16th and last place in the Big 12.
As for Kansas State’s record, the numbers don’t completely back up this team’s dreadful conference record. The group scored the second-least goals in the Big 12, with only 16 this season, but their defense only conceded 18, which is good for 11th best. Also, only one of their six conference losses has been by more than one goal, coming in a 2-0 away loss to West Virginia.
Junior goalkeeper Murphy Sheaff has been impressive for Kansas State, leading the Big 12 with 86 saves on the year this season. Sheaff also leads the Big 12 in saves per game with an average of 5.73 per game and places fifth in the Big 12 with an 82.7 save percentage. This shows that while the Wildcats’ defense has given up too many shots, Sheaff has kept them in games to the best of her abilities.
ASU will need to be clinical in its finishing, something the Sun Devils have struggled to display this season. Kansas State has shown it will struggle to stop teams from going forward, and the only thing keeping them from getting blown out every week is excellent performances from Sheaff.
For the Wildcats’ attack, sophomore forward Ryann Reynolds leads the team with four goals, with freshman forward Allison Marshall being the only other Kansas State player with more than one. The Wildcats’ 16 goals have come from 12 players, but that doesn’t mean they have 12 surefire goalscoring threats.
This will be a good match for ASU’s defense to rebound from conceding 13 goals over the last three games. It’s no secret that their defenders have struggled over this span, so this match is a good time for the Sun Devils to pick up some confidence down the stretch.
ASU has been struggling for form lately, but a win at home to Kansas State on Thursday at 7:00 p.m. MST, will help the Sun Devils with a late push for the conference tournament.
