(Photo: Steve Rodriguez/ASU Athletics)
It’s hard to complain when you open up your season in Hawaii.
It’s even harder to complain when you leave Hawaii undefeated.
That’s exactly what the Arizona State soccer team did last weekend, as they tied 2-2 against Texas and beat Hawaii 5-2.
Next up the team will travel to take on Illinois on Friday night. WCSN soccer editor Mauricio Casillas was able to catch up with head coach Kevin Boyd for this installment of Coach’s Corner.
Mauricio Casillas (WCSN): What did you learn about this team from your trip in Hawaii?
Kevin Boyd: We’ve got a pretty good group as a whole. What I’ve been saying all along is that I like the character of our group. We’re very young which means there’s little things here and there, but their overall character — they’re fun. We definitely saw areas where we needed to improve. But, we also saw we have some talent we can work with.
WCSN: What can you say about the performance by freshman forward Aly Moon? (Moon tallied a hat trick against Hawaii.)
Boyd: I’ve done this 18 years and I can only think of one other time where a player has generated a hat trick in the first weekend of play, and I’m not sure if I’ve seen a freshman do that before. It’s really good on her behalf. We knew she was talented and with [Forward] Cali Farquaharson being out with an injury, we needed someone to impact the game. I’ve been saying all along that she’s really good, and she proved it.
WCSN: Two goal keepers saw action in Hawaii. How would you describe your goal keeper situation right now?
Boyd: We made a change in the first game. The player that went in, Lexi Bounds, did a very good job and that’s great for us. This is going to make Chandler, the player that she replaced, have to increase her game to try and win her spot back. It’s also going to make Lexi have to be competitive and continue to build as a keeper. I think it’s got all kinds of good written all over it.
WCSN: Who’s going to start on Friday?
Boyd: Right now it would be Lexi.
WCSN: What are your thoughts going into the Illinois game?
Boyd: Illinois is a very good team. They’re well-coached and we’re going to be at their place. Last year we hosted them and it was a 4-3 win for us, but it was incredibly close. The impact for us is potentially very high. I think that we’ll play better than we did this last weekend. I’m looking forward to seeing what we look like, and getting an idea of how we match up against another good team.
WCSN: The Pac-12 is an extremely competitive conference in all sports, but especially in women’s soccer. Where do you think this team stacks up?
Boyd: I think it’s too early to tell in many ways. The Pac-12 has two teams that are rated higher than everybody. The UCLA team is ridiculously talented, they’re the returning national champs and they only graduated one starter. The Stanford team just had an outstanding weekend beating North Carolina and Duke on the road. There’s a little separation between those two, but three to 10 or 11 is virtually interchangeable. We’re definitely in that interchangeable group.
