Aug. 23, 2012

Live Stats vs. NAU - 7 p.m. PT on Friday

The Arizona State women’s soccer team will be seeking its first win of the 2012 season this Friday (7 p.m. PT) when it travels north to Flagstaff, Ariz., to take on Northern Arizona University.  Friday’s contest will be the only game the Sun Devils will play in the state of Arizona this month as they are currently in the midst of a five-game road trip to start the season. 

LAST WEEK

The Sun Devils were unable to generate any offense in a pair of losses to Cal State Northridge (1-0) and San Diego State (2-0). In the season opener against CSUN, ASU tallied more than twice as many shots as the Matadors (21-10), however had only two more shots on goal (5-3) than CSUN. Junior Devin Marshall led ASU with five shots (one SOG). Redshirt junior Miah Mollay (four shots, two SOG) and senior Nicki Stone (two shots, two SOG) were the only other Sun Devils to register shots on goal in the game. 

“We made some defensive errors especially in the first half, a couple bad ones that led to their goal,” ASU head coach Kevin Boyd said of the loss to CSUN. “We got more chances and outshot them. The problem is the same technical problems we had in parts of the game happened in front of their goal. So although we had more chances we just didn’t do anything with them.”

On Sunday, ASU and SDSU played a scoreless first half before the Aztecs came out and scored two goals in the first nine minutes of the second half to secure the 2-0 win. Although SDSU had a 6-1 advantage in shots in the first half, neither team was able to register a shot on goal. Though they were edged 7-6 in shots in the second half, the Sun Devils were able to register four shots on goal.

“We did do some things better than we did [against CSUN], but we were playing a better opponent,” Boyd said. “We’ll try and take another step forward this coming Friday and see if we can’t get what we’re doing in practice to show up on the game film.”

SCOUTING NORTHERN ARIZONA

After scoring six goals in an exhibition win, the Lumberjacks were not able to find the back of the net in last week’s season opener, a 2-0 loss at UNLV. The Rebels had advantages in both shots (15-5) and shots on goal (8-1).

The Sun Devils have won eight of their nine all-time meetings with NAU, including last season’s 7-0 win in which the Sun Devils tied the single-game school record for goals. Current Sun Devils Devin Marshall, Jasmine Roth and Sarah Van Horn all scored in the win.

Two years ago, the Sun Devil needed a last-minute goal to upend the Lumberjacks 4-3 in Flagstaff.

SUN DEVILS LOOK TO BOUNCE BACK IN 2012

After advancing to the NCAA Tournament in 2009 and 2010 the Sun Devils looked destined for even bigger things in 2011. Unfortunately an injury-riddled campaign - ASU’s No. 2, No. 3 and No. 4 scorers missed a combined 27 games in 2011 - proved to be too much for the Sun Devils to overcome as they went 8-11.

Fast forward to the present and the Sun Devils will look to get back to the string of success they started to build up in 2009-10. Fourteen newcomers join a group of committed returners who put in a strong offseason in preparation for 2012.

“Last year was a learning process for our returners, it doesn’t have anything to do with our incoming players,” said ASU sixth-year head coach Kevin Boyd. “The incoming players are coming into what we have now and that is a team that has tremendous character.

“I think we are going to play an exciting brand of soccer this season. I look at us in training and sometimes I say to myself, `we can really play.’ But until you get to games you really don’t know.”

NEW CAST MEMBERS

Fourteen of the 31 players on ASU’s roster are new members of the team in 2012. Of the 14 newcomers, 11 are freshmen to go along with three student-athletes who transferred to. Add redshirt freshman Chandler Morris to the mix and nearly half the team (15 of 31) is comprised of players who did not play in a game for ASU prior to this season. 

Last week six players made the first start of their respective ASU careers, including five true freshman – McKenzie Berryhill, Nina Brueggemann, Cali Farquharson, Christina Schedel and Sara Tosti. Also making the first two starts of her career was Morris.

INTERNATIONAL FLAVOR

Among the incoming freshmen this year are Nina Brueggemann from Pinneberg, Germany and Christina Schedel who is from Rosenheim, Germany. Brueggemann is a member of the German National Team. In May 2011 the Sun Devils traveled to Germany to play in some exhibition matches. Brueggemann and Schedel are the first international players on ASU’s roster team since Kylla Sjoman(Canada), who graduated in 2008.

RETURNING OFFENSE

ASU’s key returners on offense include senior forward Courtney Tinnin and junior forward Devin Marshall.

Marshall was third on the team in scoring (10 points) and tied for first in assists (4) in 2011 when she was limited by an ankle injury that caused her to miss seven games. She returns as ASU’s returning leader in goals (4) from last season.

Tinnin, who led ASU in assists in 2009 with six, did not play in 2010 due to a knee injury sustained in the spring of 2010. After missing the first eight games of the 2011 season rehabbing the injury, Tinnin returned and ended up tying for the team lead in assists (3).

TOUGH ROAD

The Sun Devils will be playing their first five games of the 2012 season on the road. Last week the Sun Devils started off the 2012 season with games at Cal State Northridge and San Diego State. After this weekend the Sun Devils will travel to to the Midwest to take on Missouri (Aug. 31) and Kansas (Sept. 2).

“Normally having your first five games on the road would be a tremendous challenge, but because we have so many new players I don’t know that it will be that big of a factor,” Boyd said.