On March 14, 2007, Cal women's soccer coach Kevin Boyd resigned from his position to reportedly, "attend to new family priorities," which included "becoming a new father and possibly moving back to his hometown of Boise, Idaho, with his girlfriend."

Only 16 days later, though, Boyd signed on to lead Arizona State, leaving a nationally ranked recruiting class and a squad full of his players without a coach.

Those who were affected by the situation have not forgotten.

"This always is a bit of a revenge game," sophomore Emily Shibata said. "It's also ASU, but at the same time there is, well, a little extra thing to it."

After being unexpectedly swept by the Washington schools last weekend, the No. 22-ranked Bears (9-5-0, 2-2-0 in the Pac-10) look to regain their footing in the conference standings by bouncing back against the Sun Devils.

ASU (7-4-3, 2-1-1) is fresh off of a victory over defending national champion USC, dropping the Trojans from No. 7 to No. 11 in the national coaches' poll. But Boyd will have to spend more than just a year at ASU to match his successes as the Bears' boss.

Boyd left Cal with a record of 124-63-20 in 10 seasons as head coach and a team that made it to the second round of the NCAA tournament.

With a nationally competitive program on the rise, the resignation came as a shock, but the Bears who remember have moved on.

"Neil's our man now," senior Nkechi Kanu said. "We miss Kevin, he was a great coach, but he's an opponent now and that's how we have to go into the game."

If there is one man who is not buying into the coaching rivalry, it is Boyd's replacement.

"When you get into major conference matches, it is never about the coaches; it is only about the players and how they execute," Cal coach Neil McGuire said. "They are an athletic, offensive minded team that runs three forwards and we will need to combat that."

The Bears hope to duplicate their 3-1 success of last year's match against the Sun Devils on Friday at 3:30 p.m. at Edwards Stadium. But Cal will have to do it without a large portion of its offensive cast.

Leading goal scorer Alex Morgan, who has eight goals and five assists, and Megan Jesolva, who has chipped in eight assists, will be noticeably absent on Friday, as they are in Oregon training with the U.S. U-20 National Team.

To add to that list, freshman standout Katrin Omarsdottir will be unavailable as well, as she will again travel to the European Championships to represent her native Iceland. And McGuire said that Lisa Kevorkian will be a game-time decision due to an injury.

"Luckily, the majority of the players that will replace those players have already had some starting experience this season," McGuire said. "This is where our depth will hopefully show."

Tags: CAL WOMEN'S SOCCER, NEIL MCGUIRE