(Photo: Steve Rodriguez/ASU Athletics)
The No. 18 Sun Devil soccer team will travel to take on Oklahoma State University on Friday night, for its first road true road game of the season.
The Sun Devils are coming off their first loss of the season after falling to Texas Tech1-0 last Sunday in the Cats Classic tournament in Tucson.
The Sun Devils are now 4-1-0 on the 2015 season, coming into the match with wins against Portland State, UNLV, Stephen F. Austin and then-No.14 Pepperdine. The Sun Devils have outscored opponents 16-1 on the season.
Sun Devil redshirt senior goalkeeper Chandler Morris has been a dominating presence on the field so far this season. She got her 23rd career shutout against Pepperdine. She needs just one more shutout to break ASU’s career shutout record.
Another player with an opportunity to break records for the Sun Devils is senior forward Cali Farquharson. In 2014, she had her third double-digit scoring season of her ASU career, scoring 14 goals and assisting with four more. So far this season, she has scored four goals and assisted on three. Farquharson is currently second on ASU’s list for most career goals with 37 goals, while Stacey Tullock holds the scoring record with 50. Arizona State has outscored itsopponents by a 16-1 margin in their last five matches this season with the help of players like Farquharson and redshirt junior Lucy Lara, who assisted in three of the five goals against Pepperdine.
Oklahoma State comes home from Washington, where the team won 2-0 against the Gonzaga Bulldogs after a three-game losing streak. Right now OSU is at 3-4-0 on the season.
The Cowgirls return 17 of their 22 letter winning players this season, as well as four All Big-12 honors players. Players to look for are senior forward Allie Stephenson and Courtney Dike. Stephenson earned All-Big 12 First Team honors in 2014 ranked in the top 10 in the Big 12 in goals, points and shots. Dike most recently played for Nigeria in the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup where she recorded her first start in the game against the United States.
They key to victory for ASU this Friday will be to focus on getting shots early on and keeping up a fast-paced game throughout both halves. In the Sun Devil’s highest scoring game of the season, their first goal was scored in less than two minutes and they continued on to win the game 6-0.
If you can’t make it to the game on Friday night, you can watch the game live on Oklahoma State’s YouTube channel at www.okstate.com/live.
You can contact the author, Maddie Witt, via email at mrwitt@asu.edu.
