WHEN: Friday at 3 pm MST/4 pm MDT
WHERE: Prentup Field • Boulder, Colo.
LIVE STREAM: Colorado Live Stream
LIVE STATS: Click here
UP NEXT
The Sun Devil soccer team (4-0-2) begins Pac-12 play on Friday (3 pm MST/4 pm MDT) when it travels to Boulder, Colo., to face the Colorado Buffaloes. This will be ASU’s second trip to the state of Colorado this season. Last month (Aug. 28), the Sun Devils played Denver to a 1-1 tie.
The fact that the Sun Devils are unbeaten is a testament to the team’s focus despite the obstacles it has overcome to play the games it has thus far.
Both of ASU’s opening weekend contests were affected by weather. ASU’s opening game, 1-1 tie vs. 2021 NCAA Tournament participant South Dakota State, started on the night of Aug. 18 and finished on the morning of Aug. 19. Keri Matthews’ first career goal tied the game at 1-1 on Friday after SDSU took the lead during Thursday’s evening session. ASU’s next scheduled contest vs. Hawai’i (Aug. 21) did not even start (lightning) just as the teams were getting to warm up. The game was eventually canceled.
The Sun Devils were able to start and finish their first road contest, a 2-1 win at Boise State (Aug. 25), without any unusual stoppages. However, weather issues once again came into play – a 50-minute lightning delay before the start of the second half – in ASU’s ensuing contest, at Denver.
ASU returned home and scored its most goals since the 2021 season opener in a 6-2 win over UAB (Sept. 1). The Sun Devils then went 13 days without playing a game after their home contests vs. Georgia Southern (Sept. 4) & Pepperdine (Sept. 8) were canceled (Covid-19 protocols).
ASU returned to action last week with a pair of 5-0 wins over Grambling State (Sept. 14) and vs. Toledo (Sept. 18).
The tremendous job that ASU has done of maintaining its focus would come as no surprise to anyone who has followed the program in recent years. During the Covid season of 2020 (played in the spring of 2021), ASU made its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2014 and was just short of making its first Sweet 16 after falling to Duke in double OT. Last season, ASU still managed to post a double-digit win total having to play 22 different players in the starting line due to an unlucky spate of injuries. Including this season’s 4-0-2 record, the Sun Devils are now 28-7-2 in regular season, non-conference games since 2018, including a 14-1-2 mark over the last two seasons.
WHAT TO LOOK FOR
• ASU enters Friday’s game leading the nation in assists per game (4.0), second in points per game (10.67), sixth in scoring offense (3.3 goals per game) and ninth in shots on goal per game (10).
• ASU has been led by returning All-Americans Nicole Douglas. Now the program’s all-time career leader in goals (55), points (128) and game-winning goals (17), Douglas enters Friday’s game leading the nation in goals per game (1.5), points per game (3.17) and shots. per game (3.17), is fourth in total goals (9), sixth in total points (19) and seventh in game-winning goals (3).
• After not finding the back of the net in ASU’s season opener vs. South Dakota State (Aug. 18), Douglas has since scored all nine of her goals in ASU’s last five games. In ASU’s 5-0 win over Toledo (Sept. 14), Douglas, who was named the Pac-12’s offensive player of the week on Sept. 19, tied the school’s single-game school record for goals (3) for the fourth time in her career. She has now scored multiple goals in a game 12 times and has accounted for 28 goals in ASU’s last 26 games.
• ASU has scored 16 goals in its last three games (6-2 vs. UAB and 5-0 vs. Grambling State and Toledo). Nine different Sun Devils have scored in that stretch with three Sun Devils accounting for multiple goals Douglas (6), Alexia Delgado (2) and Eva van Deursen (2).
• Both Lucy Johnson (vs. UAB) and Kennedy Mayo (vs. Toledo) tied the single-game school record for assists (3). Teammate Enasia Colon is 19th in the nation in assists per game (0.67).
• Freshman goalkeeper Pauline Nelles was not available week one as she was still competing with the German National Team at the U20 World Cup in Costa Rica. She has since started the last five games and last week earned her first complete game shutout vs. Toledo.
SERIES NOTES VS COLORADO – ASU LEADS 6-5-1
Both teams have enjoyed a stint in the series in which they went 4-0-1 against the opposition in a five-year stretch. Last season, ASU received a pair of goals from Nicole Douglas and one from Olivia Nguyen in ASU’s 3-2 win. Douglas’ goal in the 77th minute put the Sun Devils ahead to stay.