The two games are scheduled to be broadcast on Pac-12 Arizona and Los Angles with Tammy Blackburn and Christian Miles set to lead the coverage team in Thursday's outing, while Tracey Bailey and Miles will be on the call in Sunday's game.
The pair of road-matches this weekend will begin a stretch of four matches against teams ranked in the national polls. Following this weekend's road test, the Sun Devils will return home to host No. 1 Stanford for a Saturday night match on October 13. The following week, Arizona State will host No. 7 Washington State on Thursday Oct. 18.
ASU, who is in the early portion of the conference slate, enters this weekend's games facing the nation's fifth-toughest remaining schedule based upon team's winning percentages. The upcoming schedule for the Sun Devils includes meetings with teams who have combined to post a .705 win percentage, a mark that ranks first among Pac-12 teams. The next toughest schedule for a Pac-12 team is Washington State, who will make the trip to Tempe in two weeks. The Cougars remaining schedule ranks seventh in the nation, while Colorado's remaining schedule ranks eighth entering the weekend.
In looking at the conference slate, it is without questions one of the most daunting challenges in all of collegiate soccer. For the fifth time in eight weeks, a Pac-12 team claimed the top-two spots in the national poll, with five total teams from the League of Champions making appearances in the national polls. No. 1 Stanford has maintained its stronghold on the top spot for 14-consecutive weeks dating back to Oct. 10, 2017 and No. 7 Washington State became the only team in the nation with a perfect record.
The Pac-12 has found success as a Conference this season largely in part to great team offense. Four teams rank in the top-25 in assists per game, the most teams in the top-25 in that category than any other conference. Colorado (3.33 apg) ranks second in the country, USC (2.45 apg) and Stanford (2.45 apg) are tied for 12th, and Arizona (2.18 apg) takes the 25th- spot.
While the offenses have been the key to the league's success this season, the two matches this weekend will pit the Sun Devil squad against two of the best defensive teams in the nation. Through their first ten games, UCLA has battled to a .600 shutout percentage, a mark that ranks 19th- in the nation, and second in the Pac-12 entering the weekend. On Sunday, the Sun Devils will be faced with trying to break though against a Trojan defense that has held opposing teams to just one goal per every three matches played.
The Sun Devils will begin their road-trip against a strong UCLA squad that is just beginning to find their footing in the season. While the Bruins have not enjoyed the start to the season that they had hoped for, things are starting to come together and there is little doubt that they will be a major factor in the Pac-12 and NCAA standings moving forward. The 6-3-1 Bruins were decimated by injury early in the season, including losing their starting keeper to a concussion, losing a crucial midfielder to a knee injury and a veteran defender who is just returning from a surgery. The Bruins have also lost two crucial players to international duty as well.
UCLA will take the field Thursday with three losses, equaling their total losses from last season's 25-game season, but they have all come at the hands of very capable teams in the form of Florida State, Washington State and Stanford. The Bruins enter Thursday's tilt owning a 19-9 advantage in goals scored against their opposition so far this season. On defense, the Bruins have shutout over half of the teams they have played, leading to the second best shutout percentage in the Pac-12, trailing only USC who is first with eight shutouts already this season.
Things will not get any easier in Sunday's outing against the Trojans. Entering this week's slate of games, USC has looked to be one of the best defensive teams in the nation. The Trojans, have already tallied eight shutouts on the season, including a scoreless draw against No. 12 Florida State earlier this season. USC has only dropped one game this season, a 1-0 loss to top-ranked Stanford in their last outing.
Apart from the loss, the Trojans have looked the part of a team destined for yet another deep run in the NCAA tournament. USC has allowed just four goals all season, and has not yet allowed a multi-goal outing from an opponent all season. Senior Leah Pruitt has paced the Trojans on offense this year, amassing seven goals, and accounting for four assists. Her seven goals ranks third in the Pac-12, trailing Colorado's Tatum Barton by just four goals.
The Sun Devils have shown that they are up for the challenge that lays ahead of them this weekend. Despite having their five match unbeaten streak snapped this past Sunday, the Sun Devils will hit the road this week with a .650 win percentage, a mark that ranks 87th- in the nation. The percentage is a huge improvement from the .342 percentage the Sun Devils posted just a season ago. The team has also done a great job of creating opportunities for themselves on the offensive side of the field, firing in 76 shots on goal through their first ten games of the season. For reference, the Sun Devils are just 28 shots on goal back of their 2017 total of 104.
Following this weekend's trip to Los Angeles, the Sun Devils will return home to host top-ranked Stanford, who will be in action at Oregon and Oregon State this weekend. Fans can follow all of the action from the 2018 Sun Devil soccer season by following @SunDevilSoccer on Twitter and Instagram.