May 17, 2006
2006 Schedule (in pdf format)
TEMPE, Ariz. - Ray Leone, head coach of the Arizona State University soccer program, released his squad's 2006 season schedule Wednesday. The Sun Devils, who went 9-8-3 overall in 2005, are slated to play 19 matches with 10 being played inside the friendly confines of Sun Devil Soccer Stadium in Tempe.
The Sun Devils open their 11th varsity season on the road as they travel to Irvine, Calif., to meet the UC Irvine Anteaters on Aug. 25 at 7 p.m. before returning to Tempe for three home matches in a row. The match with the Anteaters will not only be the first of the season for both squads, but also will serve as the first match for April Heinrichs, the former U.S. Women's National Team head coach that took over the UCI program this summer. ASU opens its home slate on Monday, Aug. 28, when it faces the Greyhounds of Loyola (Md.) College at 7 p.m. The match with Loyola is being dubbed "Monday Night Futbol" at Sun Devil Soccer Stadium.
The following weekend (Sept. 3-5), ASU will play host to the Heather Farr KICKS Against Breast Cancer Invitational with Loyola, Florida State and St. Louis visiting Tempe for the four-match event. On Friday, Loyola and St. Louis meet in the opener at 5 p.m. before the Sun Devils face College Cup participant Florida State at 7 p.m. The weekend concludes on Sunday with Florida State and Loyola meeting at 11 a.m. before the Sun Devils face another NCAA tournament team, St. Louis, at 1 p.m.
ASU then returns to the road for a trio of matches as it heads to the UNLV Invitational (Sept. 8-10) in Las Vegas. The Sun Devils open the weekend with a 4:30 p.m. contest against Denver before closing out the event with UCF (University of Central Florida) at 11 a.m. The following weekend, ASU returns to California as it meets UC Santa Barbara in a 5 p.m. contest on Sept. 15. Two days later, the Sun Devils are back on their home turf as they meet Pepperdine in a 5 p.m. match in Tempe.
The non-conference slate concludes with a pair of matches, one on the road and one at home that starts a three-match home stand, as the Sun Devils head to San Diego, Calif., to face the USD Toreros on Sept. 24 before closing the pre-Pac-10 schedule with a Sept. 29 home match with UNLV (6 p.m.).
The Sun Devils open their conference slate at home this season as they play host to Oregon State at 7 p.m. Friday (Oct. 6) before welcoming Oregon to Tempe for the second year in a row in a 1 p.m. contest on Sunday (Oct. 8). Following the opening home weekend, the Sun Devils return to the Golden State as they head to the Bay Area where they will face Stanford (Oct. 13) at 7:30 p.m. in Palo Alto before taking on California (Oct. 15) at noon in Berkeley.
Upon returning from the Bay Area, the Sun Devils will play their final three home matches of the season as they play host to USC at 7 p.m. on Oct. 20 and NCAA runner-up UCLA at 1 p.m. on Oct. 22 before closing out the home stand with intrastate rival Arizona on Oct. 28 at 7 p.m. From there, the Sun Devils will close out the regular season in the Northwest as they face Washington State at 2 p.m. on Nov. 3 before heading to Seattle to meet Washington at noon on Nov. 5.
Overall, the Sun Devils will face nine teams that competed in the NCAA tournament last year with two of the squads, Florida State and UCLA, both having advanced to the College Cup. Other tournament teams on the slate this season include non-conference foes Pepperdine (Sweet 16), St. Louis (second round) and UNLV (first round) while Pac-10 rivals Stanford (first round), California (Sweet 16), USC (second round) and Arizona (Sweet 16) round out the tournament participants.
Last year, the Sun Devils posted a 9-8-3 overall record and finished the season with a 4-4-1 mark against the Pac-10. ASU played host to 10 matches in 2005, going 4-4-2 overall, with five of those 10 matches going to overtime. The Sun Devils also posted a 6-5-2 record against teams it faced in 2005 that appear on the 2006 slate with a 2-1-1 mark against non-conference foes. ASU defeated UC Irvine (3-2 in 2OT) and UC Santa Barbara (1-0 in 1OT) last year with its loss coming to UNLV (2-1) and its tie in a 2-2 match with San Diego. All four matches were played in Tempe.