The Missouri Tigers football team is not the only MU athletic squad that will be making a highly anticipated road trip to Tempe, Ariz., this weekend.
Missouri soccer, currently sitting 18th in the polls and riding a five match win streak, is also heading to the Grand Canyon State for a pair of matches against Arizona and Arizona State.
First up will be Arizona on Friday evening. MU enters that showdown as heavy favorite, as the Wildcats are 0-4 on the season and have yet to notch their first goal.
This doesn’t bode well for the Wildcats, since the Tigers have allowed just two goals over the course of their last four matches, three of which have been shutouts.
After their showdown with Arizona on Friday, MU will have an off-day Saturday to take in their desert surroundings before returning to the pitch Sunday for an afternoon game against Arizona State, which takes on Oklahoma on Friday.
“Arizona and Arizona State, two Pac-12 teams, tough games,” coach Bryan Blitz said. “Arizona had a tough loss to BYU, and they lost, but they’re a heck of a team so we have to bring our best game to Friday because they’re kind of like a wounded animal right now.”
The weekend finale figures to be the stiffer test for coach Blitz and his Tigers, as ASU enters the weekend with a record of 2-2.
One of the Sun Devil losses came at the hands of No. 4 Virginia.
In matches against Northern Arizona, the only team both squads have commonly faced, ASU won 7-0, compared to MU’s 3-0 triumph.
ASU has scored 10 goals in its two victories, compared to the lone goal it has mustered up in its two defeats. Freshman forward Alexandra Doller has been the catalyst for the Sun Devils, having already notched three goals on the season.
Doller will be faced with the unenviable task of getting past a stout MU backline, spearheaded by junior Allison Hu, a transfer from Saint Louis University.
Fellow defensive starters Kelsey Mulcahy and Mallory Stipetich have been stellar, and the goalkeeping duo of McKenzie Sauerwein and Caroline Stanley has combined to create a staunch defense that has frustrated each of the team’s last five opponents.
The Tigers have been hitting their stride as of late, but are well aware their lone loss thus far came on a west coast trip.
“The whole season, playing a tough schedule on the road, we’re trying to get better each week,” Blitz said. “Going to San Diego with all the travel, we learned some lessons and we knew we had to start from the very first minute when in San Diego, maybe we didn’t do that.”
Sophomore Alyssa Diggs echoed her coach’s sentiment, and firmly believes the team’s focus is where it needs to be.
“I feel like these last couple games we’ve really come together as a team and the new players are learning the system as a team,” Diggs said. “Right now we’re on a winning streak so we’re trying to be confident but not cocky and keep that streak going.”