Plenty of longtime Sun Devils got to experience ASU’s 4-1 win over the University of Texas at El Paso on Sept. 12, a night that celebrated the program’s 30th anniversary.
The combined Senior Night and Alumni Night created a booming atmosphere at Sun Devil Soccer and Lacrosse Stadium that showed no mercy for a Miners team that kept it close until the final 20 minutes.
To make the night even more special, the victory boosted the Sun Devils’ record to 7-0-1, their best start to a season since 2000, and it all happened with friends and family in attendance.
"It’s unbelievable," said senior forward Tatum Thomason, who leads the squad in scoring with 5 goals. "I’ve got 30 family members standing behind me. I literally can’t beat it. This has been my favorite season, and it’s only a month and a half into the season."
Senior forward Cameron Valladares, who leads the team with six assists, drew first blood for ASU at the 12-minute mark. From there, the Sun Devil offense created several scoring opportunities but struggled to capitalize throughout the first half.
Senior goalkeeper Pauline Nelles recorded three saves in the first half to keep ASU’s one-goal advantage alive. Five days prior, Nelles became the fourth-ever Sun Devil goalkeeper to record over 400 consecutive minutes without giving up a goal. Briana Silvestri was the last to accomplish that feat in 2008.
At halftime, Sun Devil Athletics paid tribute to the program’s alumni, including Cali Farquharson, who holds a school record for scoring a goal in eight consecutive games. Farquharson will be a 2025 Sun Devil Hall of Fame inductee.
UTEP sophomore forward Ana Quintero opened up the second period with a goal of her own in the 55th minute that sent the Miners’ sideline into a frenzy. Four minutes later, Thomason decided to take matters into her own hands, navigating through multiple defenders to position herself for a shot that regained the lead for ASU.
The Sun Devil sideline erupted even more than usual after Thomason’s score, putting the group’s all-for-one mentality on full display.
"You look down some benches and it’s all sulky because they’re not on the field," said ASU Head coach Graham Winkworth, who notched his 250th career win in the team’s game against Denver. "This team (is) genuinely happy for one another. Everybody wants to play, but they want their friends and their sisters to do just as well. I don’t know how we’ve managed to create that, but I love it."
From that point on, ASU ran away with it. In the 74th minute, junior defender Lucy Fazackerley scored a header goal off a corner kick. Just over 10 minutes later, freshman Addison Baltodano became the Sun Devils’ fourth scorer of the night with a little more than five minutes left in regulation.
After an electric night for Sun Devil soccer, the focus shifts to conference play, starting with the team’s matchup against No. 10 BYU on Sept. 18.
"I feel like we’re coming together really well," Valladares said. "Our defenders are scoring off our corner kicks, we’re scoring off of our offense, we’re not really letting too many goals in. I think that was our first goal (allowed) in open play, so I think different parts of the team have been coming together really well, and I’m excited to start with BYU."
When asked about the group’s season so far, Winkworth kept it honest: focusing on the bigger task ahead.
"(I’m) delighted to have an undefeated nonconference (record), but I’d rather have an undefeated conference (record)," Winkworth said. "So again, BYU’s the whole focus now, and they’re an incredible team, so we’ve got a lot to look forward to."
Edited by Jack McCarthy, Henry Smardo and Ellis Preston.
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Ethan Holtzinger is a sports reporter for The State Press who has previously worked for Cronkite News and the Arizona Interscholastic Association. He is in his 2nd semester with The State Press and 5th semester at ASU.
