Soccer takes on Ohio State and UCF

September 17, 2010

The 19th-ranked Arizona State women's soccer play resumes play this weekend when it travels to Tucson, Ariz., to compete in a pair of game hosted at the University of Arizona's Murphey Field at Mulcahy Stadium. Action for the Sun Devils will commence on Friday when they take on Ohio State at 5 p.m. ASU will then conclude the weekend of play on Sunday morning when it faces UCF at 10:30 a.m.<separator></separator>The Sun Devils enter this week's action unbeaten (5-0-1) following a pair of wins last week over Tennessee (4-2) and Nebraska (5-0) in the Sun Devil Desert Classic.<separator></separator>Senior <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/w-soccer/mtt/volpe_karin00.html">Ka… Volpe</a> scored four of ASU's nine goals for the weekend, including the first hat trick of her career against Nebraska on Sunday. Volpe's three goals tied a single-game school record and helped propel her to Pac-10 Player of the Week honors. Other key player included senior <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/w-soccer/mtt/elston_alexandra00.htm… Elston</a> and sophomore <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/w-soccer/mtt/mccarter_taylor00.html… McCarter</a> who were both named to the Sun Devil Desert Classic's All-Tournament Team.<separator></separator>Friday's game will be the first-ever meeting between the Sun Devils and Buckeyes in women's soccer. Currently 5-1-1, the Buckeyes have not lost since they dropped their season opener to Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 2-1. Four of Ohio State's five wins have been shutouts, including its last three contests in which it has outscored the opposition a combined 6-0.<separator></separator>UCF, which will face Arizona on Friday, enters this week's play with a 4-2-0 record. In their four wins, the Golden Knights have outscored their opponents 10-1, while their two losses have come against Florida (currently No. 5 in the nation) and at Florida State (currently No. 14 in the nation).<separator></separator>Volpe Named Pac-10 Player of the Week Arizona State senior forward <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/w-soccer/mtt/volpe_karin00.html">Ka… Volpe</a> was named Pac-10 Women's Soccer Player of the Week for the week of Sept. 7-13. Volpe was named Most Valuable Player of the Sun Devil Desert Classic following a two-win weekend for No. 19 ASU, where she accounted for four goals, including her first-career hat trick. Volpe currently leads the Sun Devils with 15 points, seven goals and three game-winning goals on the season. She is now seventh in ASU program history with 61 career points, fifth in career goals with 26 and is tied for second in career game-winning goals with 12.<separator></separator>Becoming Offensive Without question one of the biggest differences between this year's Sun Devil squad (through six games) and those of the recent past, has been its ability to be consistently dangerous on the offensive end. Through six games the Sun Devils have already tallied 18 goals this season (3.0 goals per game). To put that number in perspective, in 2007 the Sun Devils scored 26 goals for the whole season (1.3 goals per game); the 2008 squad scored 22 goals (1.1 goals per game) and last year's team scored 29 goals (1.45 goals per game). In last week's victories over Tennessee (4-2) and Nebraska (5-0), the Sun Devils combined for nine goals in the two wins, their most combined goals in back-to-back games since they scored nine goals in the first two games of the 2003 season in wins at Hawaii (4-0) and vs. Bowling Green (5-1).<separator></separator>Fast Starters Combining last season and this season, ASU has an aggregate record of 12-1-3 in August and September games.

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