SPORTS

No. 22 ASU soccer hosts important early match Monday

Jeff Metcalfe
azcentral sports
Jessica Raybe, shown against Beijing Normal, is among those providing depth at forward for No. 22 ASU soccer.

Arizona State soccer goes into its second weekend ranked No. 22 nationally in the NSCAA coaches poll and facing a stiff test to remain in or move up in the top 25.

ASU (1-0) hosts UNLV (1-1) on Friday then San Diego State (2-0) on Monday, both 7 p.m. matches. The Aztecs upset Kentucky on the road last week and are No. 22 in the Soccer America poll and tied for first among others receiving votes in the coaches poll. Kentucky beat ASU 3-1 last season in the NCAA Tournament second round.

The Sun Devils dominated Portland State 3-0 in their opener with a 22-2 advantage in shots then played to a scoreless tie in an exhibition against Beijing Normal while liberally subbing, using 27 players. For whatever comparison that can be made, Beijing Normal beat California 6-5 Tuesday with the winning goal in stoppage time. ASU coach Kevin Boyd said Cal divided its team into a mix of starters and reserves with each playing a half against Beijing while he opened with his starters for the first 15 minutes then began substituting.

"We got a lot out of it," Boyd said. "It allowed us to address a couple of things this week. I'm not as worried about our defensive side but in attacking as we rotated more players, we had a couple of continuing trends to work on."

San Diego State is at Cal on Saturday before playing at ASU in a match originally scheduled for Sept. 6. The Sun Devils first must focus on UNLV, which last week beat Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 1-0 before losing by the same score to North Texas.

  • Arizona sophomore forward Gabi Stoian of Scottsdale is Pac-12 Player of the Week for three goals and an assist in wins over Abilene Christian (4-0) and Santa Clara (2-1). She already has 16 career goals, halfway to the school record 32 held by Mallory Miller. The Wildcats are at Northern Arizona (0-1) on Friday.
  • Grand Canyon beat NAU for the first time, 3-2 in overtime before a record 2,565 fans. Kelsie Roberts of Buckeye, a transfer from New Mexico Highlands, scored the winning goal on a header in the 95th minute. The Antelopes remain at home against Colorado State (1-0-1) at 7 p.m. Friday and against Weber State (0-2) at 1 p.m. Sunday.
  • GCU men's soccer debuts under new coach Schellas Hyndman on Saturday at San Diego State. Hyndman has eights transfer and six freshmen on his first Lopes team including Damian German from Real Salt Lake Academy and Christian Ramirez and Alex Radilla from FC Dallas Academy. GCU is the only NCAA Division I men's soccer program in the state.

ASU, UA volleyball open at No. 16/17

The No. 16 ASU and No. 17 Arizona volleyball teams open their seasons Friday, both on the road.

ASU, picked to finish second in the Pac-12 coaches poll, is in Colorado Springs for matches against Northeastern on Friday then New Mexico State and host Air Force on Saturday. The Sun Devils return all of their major players from last season when they were 20-14 and made the NCAA Tournament second round. Plus their additions include sisters Cassidy and Kylie Pickrell (outside hitter/setter), middle blocker Jasmine Koonts, outside hitter Lexi MacLean and libero Blair Robalin, all from Texas.

"We've got a little Texas flair to us, and that's not so bad," coach Jason Watson said. "I hear you're not supposed to mess with it."

Cassidy Pickrell is a 6-0 junior transfer who led UC Irvine in kills last season. "This team has the potential to do so many big things this year," she said. "I think we can make it to the (NCAA) Final Four if not win the whole thing. I definitely think we have the potential to win the Pac-12 this year. With the five seniors we have, their leadership is amazing then everyone else that’s on the team. There’s so much talent and we’re so deep at each position that you could have any lineup on the court and it would be a good lineup. I’m really excited to see what's in store for us this year."

Pickrell is competing with Kizzy Ricedorff and Andi Lowrance to play on the left side with Macey Gardner.Bre Bailey is expected to stay on the right side with Whitney Follette and Mercedes Binns starting in the middle, Bianca Arellano at setter and Halle Harker at libero.

"Whit Follette is playing really well right now," Watson said. "We saw some of that last year," before she missed time after having her appendix removed. "We have a really healthy group in the middle, and we do have some depth that makes me optimistic we can be good for long stretches of time."

  • UA is at tournament in Dallas against host SMU on Friday and Texas State and Abilene Christian on Saturday. The Wildcats were 24-10 last season and hosted in the NCAA Tournament opening rounds. But they lost five seniors including OH Madi Kingdon and OH Ashley Harris is taking this season off for personal reasons. All Pac-12 setter Penina Snuka of Gilbert returns and OH Nikki Attea and L Anna Panagiotakopoulos of Phoenix are transfer from West Virginia. 
  • GCU volleyball is opening in Lincoln, Neb., against Pitt on Friday and host Nebraska and Tulsa on Saturday. The Lopes were 21-11 in 2014 and return OH Natalie Tardy of Phoenix, who was Western Athletic Conference Freshman of the Year.
  • NAU volleyball was 21-8 last season and reached the Big Sky Tournament semifinals. The Lumberjacks play Lehigh on Friday then host James Madison and St. Francis Brooklyn on Saturday. Four starters are returning.

Reach Metcalfe at 602-444-8053 or jeff.metcalfe@arizonarepublic.com. Follow him at twitter.com/jeffmetcalfe.