(Photo By: Hazel Foubert/WCSN)
Following a loss in the first round of the 2023 NCAA Women’s Soccer Tournament, Arizona State Soccer has started its 2024 campaign on the right foot. ASU has yet to drop a match and boasts a 5-0-2 record through their first seven non-conference games, albeit with a relatively lighter strength of schedule.
The Sun Devil’s biggest test of the year will occur on Thursday. Arizona State will travel to Provo, Utah, to take on their new Big-12 conference foe, the 14-time conference champion BYU Cougars.
The Cougars have gotten off to a rocky start in 2024 after making the national semifinals in 2023. Do not let their subpar 2-3-2 record fool you, this BYU team has been tested in the early going. They’ve already faced four teams ranked in the United Soccer Coaches poll in No. 23 Saint Louis, No. 22 UCLA, No. 9 Utah State, and No. 4 Arkansas.
It is safe to say that BYU will be well prepared and ready to welcome ASU to The Stadium at South Field for the two schools’ first-ever inter-conference matchup. A pair of junior forwards, Erin Bailey and Allie Fryer, spearhead a deadly BYU attack that will look to make life difficult for the stout ASU defensive system.
Bailey has only played in two contests for the Cougars this season but has already recorded a goal and assist. Furthermore, last year when she got rolling she was one of the best forwards the Cougars had to offer, starting all 26 games and notching 10 goals.
Her partner in crime, Fryer, has started in all five games she has played, already tallying two goals and an assist. Like Bailey, Fryer had a fantastic season last year, where she recorded a career-high 10 goals.
ASU will look to stifle the lethal Cougar offense with a strong defensive system that has only given up four goals through its first month of action. The key for the Sun Devils will be the offense, and so far that side of the ball has been dominated by University of Arizona transfer junior forward Cameron Valladeras.
Valladeras has gotten off to a blistering start over the first month of action, racking up four goals and three assists. Head Coach Graham Winkworth had nothing but praise for the former Wildcat turned Sun Devil.
“She’s definitely improved her defensive side of the game,” Winkworth said. “She works extremely hard on that side now, which is something that she has really grown in so far this semester. Then again she loves scoring goals, she scores different goals than the other types of strikers we’ve got.”
However, Valladeras isn’t the only offensive weapon in the Sun Devils repertoire. Freshman forward Kierra Blundell has been a revelation for the attack, putting five goals in the back of the net, and not to mention three assists.
The final part of this electric trifecta is junior midfielder Enasia Colon, who herself, has four goals and three assists through the first part of the season. All three of these Sun Devils are able to take over a game offensively and will look to do just that against BYU.
That will be a tough task to accomplish as BYU’s defense has been particularly stringent apart from an earlier 4-2 loss to Arkansas. However, Winkworth was optimistic about finding holes in the Cougars defense.
“I think we’ve got to be able to exploit the spaces that BYU gives us,” Winkworth said.
Winkworth isn’t the only one who thinks ASU can take advantage of the Cougars. Senior midfielder and vice-captain Lauren Kirberg shares her coach’s confidence in the group.
“I think we are all excited,” Kirberg said. “There are some really good teams, but we can definitely handle them.”
BYU is just the first of many new programs that the Sun Devils will take on as a part of the Big 12 conference. The Cougars will be a good first test for the Sun Devils on the road in a very hostile environment on Thursday at 7:00 p.m. MT.
