(Photo by: Hazel Foubert/WCSN)
TEMPE – After a road trip that featured a win against Houston (3-5-1, 0-3) and a tie with UCF (3-1-3, 1-0-1), the Arizona State Soccer team (6-1-3, 1-1-1) returns home to take on the West Virginia Mountaineers for its first home matchup in the Big-12.
“I was really happy that we were much braver in possession (against Houston),” ASU head coach Graham Winkworth said.“Then that happiness continued and almost grew with UCF.”
The performance against UCF was spearheaded by a strong showing from senior defender Olivia Coleman. Junior defender Grace Gillard applauded Coleman’s presence by saying “She’s a very quick player and I think that definitely helps in the back line because we can be very aggressive.”
As for the Sun Devils’ attack, they’ll still be looking to get freshman forward Kierra Blundell back firing on all cylinders after failing to get on the scoresheet and only playing 46 minutes in ASU’s last outing. Coleman already sees the makings of a dangerous striker in the young forward.
“KB is such a great player,” Coleman said. “She’s super young, she’s super eager, she wants the ball, she wants to score.”
Blundell leads ASU with 7 goals and 3 assists, and did score twice and play the full match in the opening fixture of the away trip against Houston, but was limited to only 46 minutes against UCF on Sunday.
Ahead of Thursday’s game against West Virginia (7-2-1, 3-0), Winkworth anticipates a tactical battle with the Mountaineers as he’ll try to figure out a way to limit their attacking talent.
“(West Virginia has) a lot of pace on the wings and some good technical midfield players,” Winkworth said. “It should be a good game of chess.”
One of those key pieces for the Mountaineers is junior forward Ajanae Respass, who leads the group’s attack with five goals and four assists through its opening ten games.
Respass is in her first season with West Virginia. She spent the 2022 and 2023 seasons with Oregon, facing off against then-Pac-12 rival ASU in both seasons. Those games and Respass’s impact are a not-too-distant memory.
“[Respass] was a real threat, Winkworth said. “Big strong girl and gives you something different to play against.”
Success for the Sun Devils’ defense against Respass and West Virginia’s attack is going to be pivotal for ASU to earn the victory, as the Mountaineers have the fifth-best offense in the Big 12, averaging two goals a game.
However, it won’t be easy as ASU has switched to a back-three. This means that it’s playing with three defenders, which can lead to open space for the opposition to take advantage of. The formation also adds more numbers into the attacking phase when a coach trusts the strength of his defenders to secure the back.
“We play really well in the back three,” Coleman said. “It obviously leaves us exposed sometimes, but we have the speed, we have the defensive players.”
All in all, this Big-12 matchup seems poised to be an entertaining game, and ASU will have to find a way to find a result against West Virginia on Thursday at 7:00 P.M. MT.
