(Photo: Xavier Litman)
After splitting a road trip in the Pacific Northwest, Arizona State Women’s Soccer (7-4-3) begins its final back-to-back home stretch this weekend. The Sun Devils will hope to cap their regular season on a high note starting Thursday vs Oregon, followed up by a Sunday matchup vs Oregon State.
Oregon Ducks (4-6-6, 2-4-2 Pac 12)
ASU will take on Oregon in a matchup that should be favorable for the home side, especially after splitting the road trip and picking up a big win vs Washington State. The Ducks are in pretty poor form as they haven’t managed a win in four straight Pac-12 matches.
This season has been extremely up and down for Oregon, as its goal-scoring numbers have never taken off as they’ve only recorded 16 goals in 14 matches over the year. The offensive struggles become more apparent when taking into account that Oregon gets off only seven shots per match, compared to almost 15 for ASU.
The Ducks’ backline has shown to be much stronger boasting clean sheets after defeating Washington 2-0 and Utah 1-0. Both opponents that ASU struggled with earlier this season.
Oregon’s attack is led by freshman forward Ajanae Respass, she has found the back of the net four times over the course of the campaign and is currently the team’s leading scorer. Another freshman to watch out for is midfielder Trinity Morales, the Tucson native has shown to be a quality playmaker recording two assists this season, as well as becoming a quality goal-scoring threat including her goal against Washington State that awarded her team a draw.
Oregon State Beavers (4-9-1, 0-7-1 Pac 12)
The finale of the weekend for ASU should be one that bears fruit, coming up against the lowest-seeded team in the conference. Oregon State has yet to manage a win in conference play. Through eight matches they’ve only been able to scrape a two-all draw against Washington.
Some of the Beavers’ struggles this season can be attributed to their poor defensive record, conceding 38 goals on the year puts them in dead last in the Pac-12 for goals allowed per match by a wide margin. Giving up over two goals a match makes it hard for any team to pick up wins and they’ve struggled on that end all season. However, the attack is where they can cause the Sun Devils’ problems.
Oregon State has plenty of talent up front. Sophomore forward Mckenna Martinez is an elite attacking threat, and she’ll want to add to her goal tally, which stands at eight for the year. Outside of Martinez, the goal-scoring is spread out amongst the entire squad with eight players contributing to the other nine goals scored this season, ASU will need to be strong at the back this weekend to keep this side off the scoreboard.
ASU will start the weekend off on Thursday, Oct 27 at 7 p.m., vs Oregon. The second match of the weekend will be against Oregon State on Sunday, Oct 30 for a 1 p.m. kickoff.
