The 2019 season saw its fair share of ups and downs for ASU soccer. But ultimately, under the direction of third-year head coach Graham Winkworth, the team continued to grow in the right direction.
The Sun Devils got off to a hot start winning their first match of the season, 4-1, at Cal State Fullerton, before going on to post back-to-back 7-1 wins over Central Arkansas and Tennessee Tech.
The pair of games with seven goals matched a program-high for goals in a single game, and marked the first time ASU had scored seven in a match since 2012.
The Sun Devils would continue their dominant start to the season, securing five-straight wins for just the second time in program history, and carded their best start to a season since winning nine straight to start the 2000 season.
With five wins under their belts, the Sun Devils came up against a formidable foe, Oklahoma, who handed ASU their first loss of the season and ended the longest win-streak for the Devils since 2014.
After suffering back-to-back losses to Oklahoma and UCF, the Sun Devils got back on track, topping LSU in Baton Rouge to improve to 6-2 on the season with just one game remaining in non-conference play.
Looking to end the non-conference portion of the schedule on a high note, ASU battled CSUN to a 1-1 draw, giving the Devils an impressive 6-2-1 record entering league play.
With their impressive start to the year, ASU did their part in helping the Pac-12 record the best ever win percentage in non-conference play. Together, the league's 77-14-9 record for a .815 win percentage, the highest of any conference in the nation, and the highest non-conference win percentage by the league in Pac-12 history. The previous record for a conference win percentage was the ACC’s .809 win percentage set during the 2011 season.
The Sun Devils would go on to battle through Pac-12 play, but the tall-task of playing in the nation's best conference would prove a very difficult challenge for the young Sun Devil team, as the squad would finish the 2019 season with a 6-11-3 record.
Statistically, ASU saw a lot of growth on offense through the 2019 season. As a team, the Sun Devils combined to score 33 goals on the year, marking the best offensive output for the Sun Devils since scoring 34 goals in 2015.
With the 2019 season behind them, the Sun Devils have a very bright future ahead of them. Through this past season, ASU's young roster gained valuable experience, with the five leading points leaders in 2019 all being freshmen and sophomores.
Defensively, freshman keeper Cascapera also gained a ton of experience that will help in her development, as well as freshmen defenders Callie Darst and Lieske Carleer, who also played crucial roles in the Sun Devil defensive effort in 2019.
Credits:
Peter Vander Stoep Daniel Kwon Harrison Zhang