Wins Keep Coming as Bodies Keep Falling
In our semi-regular look into ASU Olympic sports, the Sun Devil women’s soccer team is riding a big unbeaten streak into Friday’s Pac-10 opener against Arizona. And it’s doing it with 30 percent of its roster sidelined for the season.
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The Arizona State women’s soccer team wants you! Not because the university is in dire need of students (it has plenty), but because the team has lost some 30 percent of its roster to season-ending injuries this fall.
With six players lost in just 12 games, the Sun Devils are losing a body every two games.
The Sun Devils have already filled two of the six openings on its 22-member squad. They’re now hoping to uncover four worthy candidates to join them on the pitch through tryouts open to ASU’s 67,082-strong student body.
Quoth coach Kevin Boyd: “The difficulty is bringing in good people and getting them fit and getting them some sort of training environment to try and bring their level up to the Pac-10 level and try to get them on the same page.”
For the Sun Devils, the “same page” means helping the team maintain an unbeaten streak that they extended to seven games with wins over ranked UC Santa Barbara and Long Beach State two weekends ago. Sophomore Karin Volpe (pictured above) netted the winning goal against Long Beach State with just four minutes remaining in the game.
The team is now 5-0-2 since a 1-3-1 start and faces Arizona in its Pac-10 opener on Friday.
It’s pretty amazing that the Devils have been able to maintain this level of competitiveness despite their losses, which include highly-touted freshman forward Courtney Tinnin who’s out for the year with a torn right ACL.
In addition to wins over the aforementioned California powers, ASU has also held current No. 10 Texas to a scoreless tie during its unbeaten streak. The Sun Devils are currently ranked No. 32 in the NSCAA/Adidas rankings.
Meanwhile, the Sun Devils had three former players and a former coach selected in the Women’s Professional Soccer General Draft earlier this week. They were players Elizabeth Bogus (2002-05), Manya Makoski (2002-05) and Amy LePeilbet (2000-03) and former assistant coach Nancy Augustyniak Goffi.
Never heard of WPS? Well, it claims to be the highest level women’s professional soccer league in North America—even though it hasn’t launched yet. Formed in September 2007, WPS will begin play in April 2009 and consist of seven teams across the country.
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It could be even crazier…. Check out Washington State.
From the Seattle Times:
Cougars hope to snap up next QB in student tryouts
By Brandon Scheller
Special to The Seattle Times
PULLMAN — Not a whole lot about the Washington State football team has screamed must-see TV this season, but coach Paul Wulff may have unearthed the next great reality TV concept on Monday.
An all-campus quarterback tryout.
Television stations and all forms of media were on hand, as was an estimated 200 observers who watched 29 eligible students looking to become the next scout team quarterback for the Cougars.
Wulff said extreme circumstances forced him into the extreme measures. Two weeks ago, quarterbacks Kevin Lopina and Gary Rogers both suffered spine injuries against Portland State.
Rogers is out for the season, Lopina is out indefinitely, and just three healthy quarterbacks remain for the Cougars.
They did find some kid to run the practice squad and he’s apparently pretty decent. Small time HS quarterback but is really smart and has a strong arm supposedly.
Reminds me Jeff Krohn … oh wait, he started.