TEMPE, Ariz. -- The Arizona State soccer team will hit the road to begin a three-match road stand to end the 2019 season. This week, ASU will travel to the Bay to face No. 2 Stanford on Thursday, before closing the trip with a Sunday meeting at California on Sunday. Both matches will be broadcast live by the Pac-12 Network, with Sunday's match scheduled to air on the Pac-12 Bay Area.
"What an opportunity for us," head coach Graham Winkworth said of the team's pair of games this weekend. "We will be playing against the best team in the nation Thursday, and then another really talented team in California on Sunday. Everyone here, including the staff and players, came here to Arizona State because they wanted to challenge themselves. We feel that in the last three years we have taken two massive strides forward, and then this year, our culture continues to make strides in the right direction, but we have taken a little bit of a step backward on the field. We have had an opportunity to reassess ourselves and have had a lot of positive conversations among the team, and we are committed to finishing the season with positive energy. Regardless of our scores, we have got to make sure we play with pride and take that positivity into the spring."
A lot of that energy will be coming from the young core of players who have made tremendous strides through the 2019 season. With just three matches remaining in the season, the Sun Devils have seen 26 goals from underclassmen, including seven goals from freshman players. ASU's top two leading goal scorers on the season are both sophomores, while the Sun Devil defense has been anchored by a freshman keeper in Giulia Cascapera, and a pair of talented freshman defenders in Lieske Carleer and Callie Darst.
"When you are starting eight or nine freshman or sophomores in every match, it is extremely challenging because every game is a big learning curve," Winkworth said of his young team's effort this season. "Every opponent we play in the Pac-12 is extremely gifted and well-coached. So for our young team to be able to have the opportunity to learn and grow in such a competitive environment is fantastic. It can only help us when these young players come back as returning players next year, they will be more prepared for what is ahead of them when they face the opponents like we have played recently. The Pac-12 has been having an up year, which is fantastic for the league, but we have got to make sure we continue to build our culture and continue to develop our players on the field as well."
The grueling Pac-12 schedule will not be getting any easier for the Sun Devils who enter this week's slate of games facing a final road-stretch that includes matches against No. 2 Stanford and a California team who is receiving votes in this week's United Soccer Coaches poll.
The Dun Devils will open the marquee weekend slate with a meeting against a Stanford team, who still has not lost a Pac-12 match to this point in the season. The 15-1 Cardinal team is led by Paul Ratcliffe, one of the most successful college soccer coaches in Stanford's history. In 21 seasons, Ratcliffe has led Stanford to two National Championships, while only missing the tournament four times in his tenure. The Cardinal have been playing their best soccer of late, shutting out their opponents in seven straight matches and outscoring their opposition 25-0 in that time. Offensively, 12 different players have notched goals for Ratcliffe's club, with junior Catarina Macario leading the charge. Macario leads the nation with 20 goals while adding 13 assists on the season.
"Stanford is an unbelievable team," Winkworth said of the Cardinal. "They have got a future Ballon d'Or winner in Catarina Macario. I don't mind being one of the first people to say it, she is probably a future Ballon d'Or winner, she is that good. When you look at all of the other talented players that they have on their roster, they are full of US internationals all over the field. I think they are as talented and as well-coached as they have always been and if anything this is an even more dangerous Stanford team than it was last season because they are healthier. In my opinion, they are the favorites to go on and compete for a national championship this year."
Following a tough match against Stanford Thursday, ASU will turn their sights toward California, who enter the weekend with an 11-3-3 record and sitting in fifth place in the Pac-12 standings with quality wins over No.4 USC and No.7 UCLA highlight what they have accomplished to this point in the year. Cal is led by 12th-year head coach Neil McGuire, who has left his mark on the program since his first season in the Bay. McGuire has his team poised to ake their 12th NCAA tournament in his tenure, thanks in part to the team having one of the strongest defenses in the nation, as evident by their 13th ranked .509 goals-against average entering this weekend's slate.
After this weekend's tough slate of matches, ASU will return to the state of Arizona to close out the 2019 regular-season at UA on Friday, Nov. 8. Fans can follow all of the action from the weekend road trip, as well as the rest of the 2019 season, by following @SunDevilSoccer on Twitter and Instagram. .
"What an opportunity for us," head coach Graham Winkworth said of the team's pair of games this weekend. "We will be playing against the best team in the nation Thursday, and then another really talented team in California on Sunday. Everyone here, including the staff and players, came here to Arizona State because they wanted to challenge themselves. We feel that in the last three years we have taken two massive strides forward, and then this year, our culture continues to make strides in the right direction, but we have taken a little bit of a step backward on the field. We have had an opportunity to reassess ourselves and have had a lot of positive conversations among the team, and we are committed to finishing the season with positive energy. Regardless of our scores, we have got to make sure we play with pride and take that positivity into the spring."
A lot of that energy will be coming from the young core of players who have made tremendous strides through the 2019 season. With just three matches remaining in the season, the Sun Devils have seen 26 goals from underclassmen, including seven goals from freshman players. ASU's top two leading goal scorers on the season are both sophomores, while the Sun Devil defense has been anchored by a freshman keeper in Giulia Cascapera, and a pair of talented freshman defenders in Lieske Carleer and Callie Darst.
"When you are starting eight or nine freshman or sophomores in every match, it is extremely challenging because every game is a big learning curve," Winkworth said of his young team's effort this season. "Every opponent we play in the Pac-12 is extremely gifted and well-coached. So for our young team to be able to have the opportunity to learn and grow in such a competitive environment is fantastic. It can only help us when these young players come back as returning players next year, they will be more prepared for what is ahead of them when they face the opponents like we have played recently. The Pac-12 has been having an up year, which is fantastic for the league, but we have got to make sure we continue to build our culture and continue to develop our players on the field as well."
The grueling Pac-12 schedule will not be getting any easier for the Sun Devils who enter this week's slate of games facing a final road-stretch that includes matches against No. 2 Stanford and a California team who is receiving votes in this week's United Soccer Coaches poll.
The Dun Devils will open the marquee weekend slate with a meeting against a Stanford team, who still has not lost a Pac-12 match to this point in the season. The 15-1 Cardinal team is led by Paul Ratcliffe, one of the most successful college soccer coaches in Stanford's history. In 21 seasons, Ratcliffe has led Stanford to two National Championships, while only missing the tournament four times in his tenure. The Cardinal have been playing their best soccer of late, shutting out their opponents in seven straight matches and outscoring their opposition 25-0 in that time. Offensively, 12 different players have notched goals for Ratcliffe's club, with junior Catarina Macario leading the charge. Macario leads the nation with 20 goals while adding 13 assists on the season.
"Stanford is an unbelievable team," Winkworth said of the Cardinal. "They have got a future Ballon d'Or winner in Catarina Macario. I don't mind being one of the first people to say it, she is probably a future Ballon d'Or winner, she is that good. When you look at all of the other talented players that they have on their roster, they are full of US internationals all over the field. I think they are as talented and as well-coached as they have always been and if anything this is an even more dangerous Stanford team than it was last season because they are healthier. In my opinion, they are the favorites to go on and compete for a national championship this year."
Following a tough match against Stanford Thursday, ASU will turn their sights toward California, who enter the weekend with an 11-3-3 record and sitting in fifth place in the Pac-12 standings with quality wins over No.4 USC and No.7 UCLA highlight what they have accomplished to this point in the year. Cal is led by 12th-year head coach Neil McGuire, who has left his mark on the program since his first season in the Bay. McGuire has his team poised to ake their 12th NCAA tournament in his tenure, thanks in part to the team having one of the strongest defenses in the nation, as evident by their 13th ranked .509 goals-against average entering this weekend's slate.
After this weekend's tough slate of matches, ASU will return to the state of Arizona to close out the 2019 regular-season at UA on Friday, Nov. 8. Fans can follow all of the action from the weekend road trip, as well as the rest of the 2019 season, by following @SunDevilSoccer on Twitter and Instagram. .