"We have got to work to put our stamp on the league in the next few weeks," Senior captain Jemma Purfield said. "The last few years we haven't achieved what we can, or what we want to as a team. I think we have the opportunity to surprise some teams this season. We have had a huge recruiting class come in and have been providing goals and opportunities all over the field. I think that is something that will be important going forward."
Through the first portion of the 2018 season, ASU has shown flashes of brilliance. Offensively, Arizona State has outscored their opponents 12-4 on the season, product of a 96-53 advantage in shots so far this season. In goal, both Sydney Day and Nikki Panas have been solid for the Sun Devils, each coming up with 10 saves on the season.
This weekend, the Sun Devils will look to capitalize in their lone game of the weekend. Entering the contest, ASU has played just one home match in the last two weekends. That match was a 1 p.m. match last Sunday, that featured temperatures over 100 degrees.
"In an ideal world we would only play one game a week and the season would last a while longer," head coach Graham Winkworth said of this weekend's slate. "That would give us the opportunity to keep players healthy and I think from a safety standpoint one game a week is better. Any opportunity we can get for a one-game weekend is ideal and I am happy we can start conference play with just the one game this weekend."
The hungry Sun Devils will head back to Berkley looking to build off a impressive trip last season that saw ASU battle to a 1-1 draw against the then 11th- Golden Bears. A win this Saturday would mark the Sun Devils' first road win over the Golden Bears since 2006.
A crucial component to success on Saturday will be the Sun Devil ability to play efficient soccer, a skill that this year's Arizona State squad has excelled at. So far this season, the Sun Devils have been able to capitalize on their goal scoring opportunities due in large part to ASU's ability to take quality shots. Of the 96 shots ASU has taken this season, 46 have been on frame, leading to an average of seven shots on goal per game this season.
Freshman forward Nicole Douglas has been one of the early leaders in finding herself in goal-scoring situations. Through four weeks of play, the talented freshman has scored a team-leading five goals, while playing in just six matches. Entering Saturday's contest, Douglas is scoring one goal per 88 minutes of play in her first season of collegiate soccer.
Defense has been a point of emphasis for the Sun Devils since the first week of practice. So far, the team has delivered. The Sun Devils enter this weekend's match against Cal riding a three-match shutout streak, the first time ASU has recorded three straight shutouts since the 2014 season (the last time ASU reached the NCAA tournament). Before 2014, the Sun Devils accomplished the feat in 2012 and 2008. Most impressive in the three-game stretch, the Sun Devil keepers have only had to make four saves in total, and only two saves in the last two outings combined.
This weekend's game marks an important one for the Sun Devils who will look to get conference play started off the right way, with a quality result on the road. In looking for the big road victory, the Sun Devils will lean heavily on their capable and talented freshmen class.
"We have a large number of freshmen on the roster," head coach Graham Winkworth said of the talented class. "With a lot of them playing, the expectation has been that they contribute. They have contributed with goals, but they have also contributed on the other side of the ball defensively. So far, they have really stepped into their role, but they also need to understand that the level of competition is just going to get harder and harder as the season goes on. There is not an easy game in the Pac-12 and if the preseason poll is anything to go by, we will be the underdog all season long. I am not to bothered by any of those things because I think we have a very competitive team and I think that we are more than capable of competing in every match.
With conference play starting this week, the Pac-12 looks again to be one of the top leagues in all of college soccer. Five Pac-12 teams are ranked in the top-25 this week, the most ranked teams for the Conference this season. Stanford, USC, Colorado and Washington State finished non-conference play undefeated, the first time this has been achieved in program history for USC and Colorado. Through non-conference play, the Pac-12 has a 73.4 win percentage (65-21-8) and 10 of 12 teams have a record over .500.
With five Pac-12 teams earned a spot in the United Soccer Coaches poll, the most ranked teams for the Conference this season. With Stanford maintaining the No. 1 spot for a sixth-straight week and USC at No. 3, the Pac-12 is the only conference in the nation to have two teams ranked in the top-five every week this season. The Cardinal extended its program-record unbeaten streak to 30 games after defeating then-No. 7 Santa Clara. Stanford has not lost a game since Aug. 25, 2017, the 10th- longest run in Division I history and the longest since UCLA went 44 games without a loss from 2013-14
Following this weekend's match at Cal, Arizona State will return home to host Colorado and Utah for a pair of home contests, before heading to Los Angeles to take on UCLA and USC on Oct. 4th and 7th. Fans can follow all of the action from the 2018 season by following @SunDevilSoccer on Twitter.