UP NEXT
The Sun Devil soccer program opens its 21st season of play – and the 2016-17 season for Sun Devil Athletics – on Friday night (7 p.m. ET/4 p.m PT) when it goes on the road to face Boston University. The Sun Devils will then remain in The Bay State and close out the weekend on Sunday (1 p.m. ET/10 a.m. PT) when they play at No. 25 (TopDrawerSoccer.com) Boston College.
COVERAGE
Friday's game at Boston University can seen via live stream (courtesy of Boston U). Click here to watch the stream (game time is 4 p.m. in the state of Arizona).
There will not be any video or audio coverage of Sunday's game at Boston College.
For updates during both games, fans are encouraged to follow along on Twitter (@asusoccer).
SEASON OPENERS
The Sun Devils are 14-4-2 all time in season openers, including a 7-1-1 record under head coach Kevin Boyd. ASU's only loss in a season opener under Boyd came in 2012 when it fell at Cal State Northridge, 1-0. Its only tie in a season opener under Boyd came in 2013 when it came back from a two-goal deficit to tie Texas 2-2 in a game that was played in Hawaii. Last season the Sun Devils opened with a 3-0 win over Portland State. Friday's contest represents the sixth time under Boyd that the Sun Devils have opened the regular season away from home (3-1-1).
SUN DEVIL STORYLINES
• ASU returns four full-time starters who have all been impact players over the course of their respective careers. Leading the way are junior defender Madison Stark (2015 All-Pac-12 Honorable Mention and NSCAA Third-Team All-Region) and junior forward Aly Moon (2015 Pac-12 Honorable Mention). Stark has played and started in 39 of ASU's 40 games over the last two seasons while Moon returns as ASU's active career leader in goals (14), points (39) and game-winning goals (3).
• Also returning for the Sun Devils are redshirt senior midfielder Lucy Lara (ASU's most experienced player in the midfield – 52 career games/31 starts – and active career leader in assists) and senior defender Mckenzie Grossman (key contributor on ASU's back line, who has started 46 of 57 contests over the last three seasons and was named the team's Defensive MVP in 2015).
• Other returners adding to ASU's offensive firepower include junior forward Jessica Raybe – finished second on the team in goals (5) and fourth on the team in points (10) in 2015 – and senior forward Larisa Staub and junior forward Jazmarie Mader, who both found the back of the net multiple times last season.
• ASU's five-member freshman class – Christina Edwards, Olivia Hernandez, Devyn Kelsey, Emma Malsy, and Hailey Zerbel – is expected to have an immediate impact.
• The Sun Devils enter the 2016 season looking to replace eight key contributors from last year's squad. Among the players lost to graduation were the program's No. 2 all-time leader in goals and points (Cali Farquharson), the program's all-time leader in career shutouts (Chandler Morris), three of the team's mainstays in the midfield (Tommi Goodman, Whitney Kanavel and Mackenzie Semerad) and three starting defenders (McKenzie Berryhill, Alyssa Martinez and Sara Tosti). Farquharson, Berryhill, Goodman, Semerad and Tosti all went on to play professionally.
• This season ASU will face nine teams that made it to the NCAA Tournament last year: Arizona (third round), Boston University (second round), Boston College (first round), California (first round), Cal State Fullerton (first round), Stanford (fourth round), USC (third round), Washington (first round) and Washington State (first round). Of ASU's 19 regular season opponents, 11 had winning records last season.
• After finishing tied for sixth last season, the Sun Devils were picked to finish eighth in the Pac-12 by the league's coaches.
SUN DEVIL SOCCER SEASON AND SINGLE-GAME TICKETS NOW ON SALE
Season and single-game tickets to the Arizona State women's soccer team's 2016 home games are now on sale.
The Sun Devils will kick off their home slate on Fri., Aug. 26 at 7 p.m. when they take on Loyola University Chicago on USA Soccer Night. Fans are encouraged to show their support for the USA by wearing red, white, and blue. The first 500 fans in attendance will receive a special 4" x 6" USA Flag.
The Sun Devils will host a total of 11 games at Sun Devil Soccer Stadium during the 2016 season with 10 regular season games and a FREE exhibition match vs. Beijing Normal University.
Click here for more information on season tickets and click here for more information on single-game tickets.
SCOUTING BOSTON UNIVERSITY
Boston has won the Patriot League in each of their first three years in the conference and claimed its first outright regular season title last season. The Terriers are led by a quartet of players who were named to the Preseason All-Patriot League Team: senior defender Rachel Bloznalis (Patriot League Preseason Defender of the Year), sophomore forward McKenna Doyle (2015 Patriot League Rookie of the Year), sophomore midfielder Julianna Chen and senior midfielder Rachel Blauner. Boston is coming off its third consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance, advancing to the second round of last year's tourney. This will be the first meeting between ASU and Boston.
SCOUTING BOSTON COLLEGE
Boston College returns eight starters from last year's team that went 11-7-2 and advanced to the NCAA Tournament (first round). Included among the returners are two of the squad's top offensive threats from last season: redshirt senior forward McKenzie Meehan (led BC with 17 goals and four assists in 2015) and senior forward Hayley Dowd (was second on team last season with 12 goals and two assists). In the only prior meeting between the Sun Devils and Eagles, BC came out on top 3-0 in 1998.
COLLEEN BOYD JOINS SUN DEVIL SOCCER STAFF
Colleen Boyd joined the Sun Devil soccer coaching staff in March after serving as an assistant coach for two seasons at CSUN. Boyd's primary responsibility was working with the goalkeepers. Under her tutelage, Matador goalkeepers went from posting two shutouts in 2013 (the season before her arrival) to a combined 15 over the next two seasons. Boyd's instruction also played a major role in the marked improvement CSUN had in goals-against average going from 1.64 in 2013 to a combined 1.12 in 2014 and 2015. Most importantly, CSUN's 11 wins in 2015 tied the second-highest win total in program history. In July, Boyd was selected for the National Soccer Coaches Association of America's 30 Under 30 Program. Boyd was chosen for the program from a pool of 350 applicants. This year's group of coaches (comprised of 15 men and 15 women) comes from the youth game through the college ranks. The NSCAA 30 Under 30 program is designed to give participants exposure to the Association's membership, and the opportunity to take advantage of educational offerings, such as diplomas and the NSCAA Convention.
NEW ADDITIONS
Last February Kevin Boyd announced that Christina Edwards, Olivia Hernandez, Devyn Kelsey, Emma Malsy, and Hailey Zerbel signed letters of intent to join the Sun Devil soccer program.
"Once again we think we have put together a very good class, not only in the talent that they bring, but the character that they bring," said Boyd, when the class was signed. "We are losing 10 players to graduation, five of which are going on to professional careers so there is a lot of great talent that we have to replace. We feel like the players that make up this class have the potential to not just simply step in and fill a void, but to come in and have an immediate impact in our program."
A two-time 5A Girls State Player of the Year (2014, 2015) for Summit High School (Bend, Oregon), Edwards' career statistics with Summit included 70 goals and 29 assists.
Kelsey, out of Los Osos High School (Rancho Cucamonga, California), was selected for the U18 U.S. and U19 U.S. National Team Camps. She was a team captain in 2015-2016 and was a three-time team MVP.
Named to Arizona Republic's 2016 All-State (Division II) First Team, Hernandez scored 141 goals for Westview High School (Avondale, Arizona). She spent four years with the ODP state team (2012-15), where she was a part of the 2015 Region IV Team and Interregional Tournament All-Star Team.
Malsy was a four-year starting varsity goalkeeper and team captain for Ocean View High School (Huntington Beach, California), who earned All-CIF Southern Section Division 5 distinction in 2016. She lead her team to CIF appearances all four years, including a berth in the quarterfinals in 2014.
Zerbel was named 2016 Palomares League and CIF-SS Division 3 most valuable player following a season in which she helped lead her South Hills High School (West Covina, California) team to the CIF-Southern Section Division 3 championship, and CIF-State Southern California Region Division III title for the first time in school history.
Also joining the Sun Devils in the offseason was goalkeeper Megan Delaney, who was a two-year starter for Texas A&M Corpus Christi
MISC NOTES
• Going back to 2012, ASU has won 35 of the 40 contests in which it has scored first (35-3-2). ASU's 2-1 loss at Washington on Oct. 10, 2014 ended a 24 game-unbeaten streak for ASU in games in which it had scored first (22-0-2). The other games ASU has not won in the aforementioned stretch are a 1-1 tie at Oregon State (Oct. 19, 2012), a 1-1 tie vs. top-ranked UCLA (Sept. 26, 2014), a 2-1 loss at USC (Oct. 9, 2015) and a 2-1 overtime loss at Utah (Oct. 30, 2015).
• In its nine wins in 2015, ASU outscored the opposition 28-3.
ACADEMIC SUCCESS
Since 2007 (Kevin Boyd's first season at ASU) the Sun Devil soccer program leads the Pac-12 in the number of All-Academic first-team awards (25) and the number of first- and second-team awards (39). ASU has had 10 or more players named to the league's All-Academic teams in all nine of Boyd's seasons as head coach. A program record 15 student-athletes earned Pac-12 All-Academic recognition in 2015. It broke the previous program record of 14 set by the 2011 squad. ASU's five combined first- (2) and second-team (3) awards were the most of any school in the conference in 2015.