ASU Soccer: Cal and Stanford weekend preview

(Photo: Nicholas Badders/WCSN)

Arizona State women’s soccer faces a challenging weekend on the road as they head to the Bay Area to take on No. 11 Cal on Thursday and No. 2 Stanford on Sunday.

Coming off an impressive 2-1 victory over Oregon State last weekend, the Sun Devils opened Pac-12 play with a determination to hold their own in this elite collegiate conference.

ASU (4-4-1) has emerged victorious in three of its last four games and hold a .500 win percentage in the 2017 season.

Consistently a star on the field, junior transfer Jemma Purfield continues to lead the Sun Devils with three goals and three assists. Freshman goalie Nikki Panas also stands as a threat to her opponents, with a .810 save percentage and two shutouts in her first season.

If it is able to play with the same tenacity that it’s shown in recent matches, Arizona State will have a shot at competing against California’s two highly ranked teams.

Cal (8-1-0), who is undefeated in its five home games this season, looks to defend its turf against ASU on Thursday. As history shows, the Golden Bears hold the upper hand against their Sun Devil opponents with a 13-4-3 record and six-game winning streak, which stands as its longest winning streak against any other Pac-12 team.

Known for their brick wall of a defense, Cal is the only team in the Pac-12 this season that has held all opponents to one goal or fewer.

Senior keeper Emily Boyd is also a force in net, already having claimed five shutouts for the Bears this season. Boyd currently holds the record at the University of California with 31 career shutouts, and is ranked second in the conference for save percentage (.826).

The Sun Devil’s second challengers, the Stanford Cardinal, stand alongside their Cal foes with a record of 8-1-0 this season. Proudly continuing its undefeated run in Pac-12 openers to 17 seasons, Stanford beat Washington State 2-1 last weekend.

Against ASU, the Cardinal is 13-4-3 and have taken the win in the past eight of nine contests, with a three game winning streak. The last time a Sun Devil team defeated Stanford was in 2013, with a close 1-0 loss.

Stanford leads the nation in six different offensive categories, which will leave no room for error for the Sun Devil defense. The Cardinal average 4.56 goals per game and 25.11 shots per game, whereas ASU only averages 1.44 goals per game and 15.9 shots per game.

One key player for Stanford is senior midfielder Andi Sullivan, who leads the team with six assists and one goal thus far. Sullivan also works in sync with junior forward Kyra Carusa, who has racked up seven goals just this season. Both players, when working together, are a deadly duo for Stanford’s offense.

Certainly the underdog in both matches this weekend, a win for ASU against either team will take near-perfect play and perhaps a little luck.

To get past Cal’s defensive wall, the Sun Devils will have to dominate in their attacking third and constantly pepper the goalie with shots. Keeping in mind that the Golden Bears have five shutouts this season, this will not be an easy task.

The Sun Devils will need to completely reverse their mentality of playing up front against Stanford, as they won’t have a shot at matching the nation’s number one offense. To have a chance at beating this No. 2 team, ASU will need to buckle down on defense and protect keeper Panas from the inevitable amount of shots that Stanford will fire off.

Prepared for a tough weekend in the Bay Area, ASU kicks off against Cal at 4 p.m. on Thursday and Stanford at 1 p.m. on Sunday.