(Photo: Patricia Vicente/WCSN)
The Sun Devils women’s soccer team (6-9-3, 0-7-2) will take on the Cal Golden Bears (12-3-3, 4-2-3) on Sunday afternoon in Berkeley after suffering a 3-0 defeat at the hands of the No. 2 Stanford Cardinal (16-1-0, 9-0-0) on Friday evening.
The three-goal loss to No. 2 Stanford matched the worst loss of the season for the Sun Devils, and the competition won’t be getting any easier with the Golden Bears on deck. They hope to rediscover their offensive prowess that they had in the beginning of the season.
Their matchup against Stanford proved to be the most difficult of the season for the Sun Devils, as the No. 2 rank of the Cardinal is the highest in the entire Pac-12. Their 3-0 loss could have been much worse, as the Sun Devils showed no real threat on offense and parked the bus the whole match.
“We have got to make sure that we defend in the future the same way we did tonight because if we defend as well as we did tonight against most other opponents we will be very difficult to score on,” said Sun Devil head coach Graham Winkworth. “We did concede three goals today, but we were playing against an incredible opponent.
“If we defend with as much discipline and heart as we did tonight, not many teams are going to be scoring against us. Obviously, we need to make sure we have a little bit more going forward offensively, but tonight we planned to park the bus and I thought the team did a fantastic job in what was a more pragmatic style.”
The Cardinals outshot the Sun Devils 36-1, an overwhelmingly one-sided advantage for Stanford who proved their dominance in the match. Despite the 36 total shots, only nine of them were on goal, and Sun Devil goalkeeper Giulia Cascapera supplied six saves to maintain the three-goal deficit.
It is somewhat impressive, however, that the Sun Devils only managed to lose by three goals, considering the amount of shots Stanford took. While they defended and allowed Stanford to control the match in their half of the field, their defense remained structured and forced Stanford to create chances through tight spaces.
“We defended for 90 quality minutes, we were well organized, we communicated better than I have seen all season. We stuck to our roles and did an incredible job,” said Winkworth. “I couldn’t be more proud of the efforts that our ladies put in. This is a very difficult place to come.”
Although they did park the bus in this match, the offensive tendencies of the Sun Devils completely disappeared as their one shot in the match was the lowest amount recorded this season. Their cohesiveness and ability to keep possession was condemned by No. 2 Stanford, but they have also yet to record a win in Pac-12 play with only two games left in the season. In conference play, the Sun Devils have only managed to score over one goal once.
Their second game of the week may be slightly easier, as Cal is not nationally ranked. They are just three points shy of second place in the Pac-12 though, so they will be hungry for a hefty win against the Sun Devils. On the other hand, ASU might be pursuing another defensive strategy heading into the game, as they currently hold the title for worst team in the Pac-12.
Coach Winkworth continually points out the quality of the Pac-12 conference, but only has two games left to clinch Arizona State’s first conference win. The Sun Devils did beat the Golden Bears in last year’s matchup, but Cal has won or tied every other matchup since 2007. The Sun Devils are 3-10-3 all-time against the Golden Bears.
Arizona State will be dealing with junior striker, Emma Westin, who has scored in her last three matches for the Golden Bears. Cal is also unbeaten in their last five outings and looks to ride their great form into another win against the Sun Devils.
The Sun Devil defense must be locked in to survive the talented Cal offense, but it is also time for them rediscover their identity as a quality offensive team and produce some offensive opportunities.
Arizona State will travel to Berkeley to take on the Cal Golden Bears on Sunday at 1 p.m. MST in Edwards Stadium.
