Arizona State soccer head coach Kevin Boyd's comments following the Sun Devil soccer team's exhibition game at San Diego on Friday night. The Sun Devils open regular season play next week when they travel to Boston for games at Boston University (Fri., Aug. 19) and at Boston College (Sun., Aug. 21). 2016 season tickets for Sun Devil Soccer are now on sale. Click here for more information.
"We ended up playing three 30-minute periods, which from a training standpoint in a preseason scrimmage was outstanding. It allowed us to look at a lot of different players, at some different combinations of players and at a couple different systems of play.
"I thought across the board we played very well, ahead of where we actually thought we were right now. Our young players looked great. Our returners I thought did a very nice job. We definitely have the trait that has been showing up every single day in practice, which is we play hard and we do that from every position which is great.
"The first 30 minutes was more the starters. I thought they did a nice job connecting. They felt their way into the game a bit and started finding the way that they were going to attack. It gave us a pretty good look and by the end I thought they played really well for this early.
"The second group was basically every one else – the younger players. They were dynamic and fun to watch in many ways. It took them 15-20 minutes to settle in and learn speed of the game. They definitely defended hard and well, but after those 20 minutes or so they started making plays and Jaimie Salas ended up getting a nice goal. After that we just started knocking the ball around. It was really fun to watch them play the way they did because it showed us the kind of depth we have.
"In the third period we played an entirely different system altogether. I just wanted to look at a different system and how we looked in it. We looked good for about 15 minutes and they we didn't look good for the next 15 minutes. There were some things that were teachable moments for us, which is good in terms of knowing what we have to work on for next week. I think all in all it was a great experience for us. We appreciate San Diego playing against us. They are a great opponent every time we play them and I am sure they are going to have a nice season this year.
"And now we go camping. We'll go back to the hotel tonight and then tomorrow morning we'll go to the store to buy the all the food we'll need for the weekend. Then we'll go and pitch our tents and start our annual camping trip which is really an enjoyable weekend for us because of all the team bonding that takes place. It is one of our favorite things to do every season and it should be a lot fun."
"We ended up playing three 30-minute periods, which from a training standpoint in a preseason scrimmage was outstanding. It allowed us to look at a lot of different players, at some different combinations of players and at a couple different systems of play.
"I thought across the board we played very well, ahead of where we actually thought we were right now. Our young players looked great. Our returners I thought did a very nice job. We definitely have the trait that has been showing up every single day in practice, which is we play hard and we do that from every position which is great.
"The first 30 minutes was more the starters. I thought they did a nice job connecting. They felt their way into the game a bit and started finding the way that they were going to attack. It gave us a pretty good look and by the end I thought they played really well for this early.
"The second group was basically every one else – the younger players. They were dynamic and fun to watch in many ways. It took them 15-20 minutes to settle in and learn speed of the game. They definitely defended hard and well, but after those 20 minutes or so they started making plays and Jaimie Salas ended up getting a nice goal. After that we just started knocking the ball around. It was really fun to watch them play the way they did because it showed us the kind of depth we have.
"In the third period we played an entirely different system altogether. I just wanted to look at a different system and how we looked in it. We looked good for about 15 minutes and they we didn't look good for the next 15 minutes. There were some things that were teachable moments for us, which is good in terms of knowing what we have to work on for next week. I think all in all it was a great experience for us. We appreciate San Diego playing against us. They are a great opponent every time we play them and I am sure they are going to have a nice season this year.
"And now we go camping. We'll go back to the hotel tonight and then tomorrow morning we'll go to the store to buy the all the food we'll need for the weekend. Then we'll go and pitch our tents and start our annual camping trip which is really an enjoyable weekend for us because of all the team bonding that takes place. It is one of our favorite things to do every season and it should be a lot fun."