(Photo: Scotty Bara/WCSN)
No. 9 Arizona Sate will take on No. 13 ranked Boston College this Monday in Glendale, Arizona. This will be ASU’s third top-25 ranked opponent of the season.
Boston College is coming in with a 2-2 record after a 13-11 win over Grand Canyon University and a 16-5 loss against the University of Arizona. The Eagles have played two games in the past three days during their west coast road trip, but ASU head coach Todd MacRobbie won’t let that to effect his team’s strategy.
“I don’t think we need to worry about what they do in their other two games,” MacRobbie said, “As soon as we anticipate them not playing [well] we are just going to beat ourselves. They will be fresh and coming off a day of rest and ready to go.”
Boston College’s scoring attack is spearheaded by two young players in sophomore attackman Kevin Sheridan and freshman midfielder Lawson Pisani. Sheridan leads the team in points with nine and Pisani has the most goals with seven. The team has totaled 25 goals in their past two games so they will be coming in hot.
On the defensive side the Eagles have struggled so far this season. They have given up 40 goals over their first four games including 18 goals to No. 2 Georgia Tech.
ASU on the other hand has only given up 16 goals this season with their most allowed being seven to No. 11 Oregon State.
The Sun Devils offensive game has been impressive so far this year. At the forefront of that attack is junior Rhett Rodgers who has been an absolute scoring machine this season with eight goals through three games.
“He makes other defenses have to switch things up because they have to prepare for a guy they weren’t preparing for at first,” MacRobbie said, “I think it will take some pressure off of our other guys because now they’re going to have to start putting their best guy on Rhett and that will free up some things for other guys.”
In their recent lose to No. 5 Cal Poly, ASU struggled with turning offensive touches into goals and shooting execution so that became a focus in their prep for Boston College.
“This last week we’ve been working on a lot of different offensive sets,” Rodgers said, “Just trying to get more efficient and turn our possessions into goals more often. Obviously we can’t just put in four goals and expect to win against some of these better teams. We need to be able to put in at least ten goals against those kinds of teams.”
Rodgers’ offensive output has been huge for ASU but he says his teammates are just as important to that goal production as he is.
“I think I just find myself in the right space at the right time,” Rodgers said, “My teammates help me out a lot by giving me the ball in positions where I can shoot and score.”
The Sun Devils will host Boston College this Monday, March 7, at Arizona Sate’s West Campus in Glendale, Arizona. The opening face-off is set for 11:00 a.m.
