Friday's contest against the wildcats will kick off at 5 p.m. PT, a match that will mark the first event of what is sure to be an exciting Homecoming Weekend in Tempe. Friday's match will also give the Sun Devils an opportunity to honor the seven seniors on the roster, a group that has meant a lot to second year head coach Graham Winkworth and his staff.
"This class is a really special group to me," Winkworth said of his seniors. "I sat them all down at the end of last season and I asked them about their experiences here. We had great individual conversations, and what I really wanted was for them to help me create an environment where the new players would be able to feel at home quickly. I cannot praise this group's leadership enough. They have been leaders both on and off the field and I am delighted, for them, that we have had a successful season so far."
The Sun Devils enter the weekend tilt with a lot of momentum following a road sweep of the Oregon schools last weekend. With their two most recent wins, the Sun Devils extended their win-streak to four matches, and picked up their 10th- win of the season. With their win on Sunday, the Sun Devils have claimed 16 points in the Pac-12 standings, matching their second highest point total in league play, and leaving them just one win shy of tying their highest point total in a single season.
A tough test awaits the Sun Devils on Friday with a rivalry match against an Arizona Wildcat team looking to bolster their own NCAA tournament resume. In their last outing, the Wildcats fell to Oregon, 1-0, bringing their overall season record to 11-5-2, that includes a 4-4-2 record in Pac-12 play. On the season, Arizona has struggled on the road, battling their way to a 2-4-0 record away from Mulcahy Soccer Stadium. Sophomore Jada Talley has led the Wildcats on the offensive end of the pitch this year, scoring seven goals and adding an assist en route to a team-leading 15 points on the season. In goal, senior Lainey Burdett has anchored the Wildcat defense, allowing less than a goal per game in her nearly 1700 minutes played.
With the implications of Friday's game, both in terms of Pac-12 standings and possible NCAA tournament odds, the Sun Devils have drawn from individual experience both in college soccer and internationally. Three players on this season's roster have played in the NCAA Tournament, including Purfield who helped lead South Alabama to the second round of NCAA play in 2015, Angela Boyle who made a Tournament appearance in 2016 while a student-athlete at Oklahoma and Casey Martinez, who played with Duke in three different NCAA Postseason runs.
"Having the likes of Jemma, Angela and Casey who have NCAA experience is huge," Winkworth said of the experienced group of players on the team. "They can share those experiences with other players and our team can see what it means, through those ladies, they see what it means to play at such an elite level. We are also lucky to have so many players who have played in big matches, whether for their clubs or big games for their country. We may be a young team, but for being so young I think we are one of the more experienced teams in the country when it comes to big game experience."
A win against the Wildcats would not only be another feather in the cap for the ASU squad in their attempt to make the NCAA postseason, it would also end a two match slide against the Wildcats, and would move ASU to 17-5-1 all time against the team down south. History is on the side of the Sun Devils in the matchup, as the Sun Devils have never lost more than two-straight to the Wildcats, and have never conceded back-to-back home matches to Arizona.
"The team knows what is at stake on Friday," Winkworth said of the matchup against Arizona. "Putting aside the NCAA implications, this is a game against an in-state rival. This is the easiest week of the season to motivate the young ladies. There will not be a problem in motivation, it is just a matter of trying to continue to play our style of soccer. Based on this week of training I am very confident that is what we will do."
On Sunday, the Devils will make up their rained-out contest against the top-ranked Cardinal, a team that has been dominant all season. For the 18th- consecutive week (dating back to Oct. 10, 2017) Stanford has claimed the No. 1 ranking in the nation. They enter this weekend (15-0-2) as one of just two teams in the nation without a loss this season, and claim a 39-game unbeaten streak. The 39 games without a loss is a program record, and ties for the sixth-longest unbeaten streak in NCAA Division I history.
With just two matches remaining in the 2018 regular-season, Arizona State's overall schedule ranks No. 20 in the country in terms of opponent win percentage. In a look at the final conference standings around the country, the Sun Devils have had close matches with Baylor, a team won the Big 12 Regular Season Championship, won a game against South Dakota State who finished first in the Summit League standings, and won a match against Weber State who won the Big Sky.
Because of their success against a number of potential NCAA Tournament teams, the Sun Devils will hit the pitch with sitting at No. 40 in the latest RPI rankings. The top-40 ranking is the second highest this season, and second straight week to be in the top-40 after checking in at No. 37 last week.
"Regarding our NCAA bid, the worst we could do is finish sixth in the Pac-12," Winkworth added. "If you finish in the top-half of the best conference in college soccer, as a worst case scenario, and managed to finish in the top-44 in the nation in the RPI, I think we will have done enough to have earned a right to play. We do not want to leave those types of decisions up to the committee, we want to win the match. We feel like we are playing not only for a chance to make the Tournament, but potentially host a first-round game. There is so much on the line for us, both on Friday night and on Sunday, that we believe that if we play to our best ability we could pick up some points this weekend."
Following this weekend's games, the Sun Devils will await their fate in the NCAA Postseason, with the field of 64-teams set to be announced Monday on the NCAA selection show at 1:30 p.m. MST. Fans can follow all of the action from this weekend, as well as news on postseason selection, by following @SunDevilSoccer on Twitter and Instagram.