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Undefeated in Pac-12 Play, Soccer Returns to SDS

by thesundevils.com
Mar 31, 2021

TEMPE, Ariz. -- After nearly a month-long road trip, the No. 16 Arizona State soccer team (7-1-2, 3-0-2) returns to Sun Devil Stadium this weekend to host Cal and the reigning national champions, Stanford. Sunday's match against the Cardinals will air on the Pac-12 Networks at 2 p.m. MST. 

The Sun Devils start the weekend with a Friday night showdown against Cal (4-3-1, 2-3-0). Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. MST on ASU Live Stream-1. For the fifth time this season, the Sun Devils play on the national network stage for the challenge against Stanford (5-3-1, 4-1-0). 

Through five conference games, ASU remains undefeated. Following the upset at No. 3 UCLA last weekend, ASU jumped from No. 21 to No. 16 in the United Soccer Coaches Poll. It's the third-straight week that the Sun Devils have placed in the USC Poll and ties for the highest rank this season. 

SUN DEVIL REWIND
ASU upset No. 3 UCLA in a box office overtime thriller for the first Sun Devil win over the Bruins since 2000 and only the second ever in program history. Junior Cori Sullivan scored the golden goal, her first of the season, at Wallis Annenburg Stadium last Friday. 

With the win on the road, ASU remains undefeated in Pac-12 Conference play. 

Sullivan was the overtime hero as she found the back of the net with only two minutes remaining in the first overtime. The Bruins were short-handed in the last eight minutes of regulation and all of overtime after Kennedy Faulknor was handed a red card.  

Offensively, junior midfielder Olivia Nguyen scored the first goal for ASU to tie the game just as regulation play was about to expire. Defensively, Giulia Cascapera came up with two saves in her eighth appearance for the Sun Devils. 

The win over UCLA ends a dry spell spanning two decades when ASU earned its first - and only - win over the Bruins in program history. 

SHOW ME THE FACTS

  • The team's total assists (21), total goals (20), and total points (61) leads the Pac-12 Conference. 
  • The team's average of 6.10 points per game is the Pac-12 leader.
  • ASU has outscored its opponents 20-7 in ten meetings - including three shutouts and two overtime wins
  • Five Sun Devils have earned Pac-12 Player of the Week awards this season. Cori Sullivan and Jessica Hale earned Offensive and Defensive Players of the Week, respectively, this week. 
  • Comeback Cori: The junior from Prescott, Arizona, played her first game of the 2020-21 season at Oregon on March 12 after being cleared from an off-season injury. She immediately made her presence known with four shot attempts over the weekend. In her first start of the season at No. 3 UCLA, Cori scored the golden goal to upset UCLA for the first time in 20 years.
  • Cinderella story: Nguyen went through two years as a Sun Devil without recording any points. All that changed in the 2020-21 season opener when the junior recorded her first collegiate goal/point against UTEP. Her 12 points are third in the Pac-12 behind teammate Douglas. 
  • Assist Queen: Alexia Delgado boasts five assists in ten appearances. It's more than double the two she earned in 2019. Delgado scored her first goal of the season against Washington. 
  • Goalkeeper Giulia Cascapera's three shutouts are third in the Pac-12.

 

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