Soccer Continues Road Swing with Trip to Houston

Tempe – Sun Devil Soccer begins its first two-game road week on Thursday when they face Houston in Big 12 action. The second of three straight road games for Arizona State is set to begin at 5 p.m. AZT at the Carl Lewis International Complex.

ASU begins the weekend at 5-1-2 overall and 0-1 in conference action. They have split the season's two road games, including a 1-0 loss at BYU last Thursday to open Big 12 play. The Sun Devils have scored multiple goals in a game five times and they rank 44th in the country with an average of 2.38 goals per game. They are taking 17.50 shots per outing and put 45.0 percent of them on goal. Defensively, ASU has conceded just five goals while posting four shutouts. The opposition is taking 9.6 shots per game.

Kierra Blundell leads ASU with five goals and 13 points. Enasia Colon and Cameron Valladares have four goals and 11 points apiece. Keri Matthews has scored three times and each of these four players has tallied three assists.

Pauline Nelles holds a 0.63 goals-against-average and .861 save percentage in goal.

ASU heads to Houston following a 1-0 loss at BYU in the Big 12 opener. The Sun Devils were outshot in the game 22-8 with the game's long goal coming on a corner kick in the 43rd minute.

Watch: Thursday's game and every Big 12 road game ASU plays will be available on ESPN+ on the ESPN App, ESPN.com or plus.espn.com. Subscribers can watch it via most mobile and connected TV platforms, including iPhone, iPad, AppleTV, Android devices, Roku, and Chromecast.

Series notes: Houston claimed a 1-0 win over ASU in Tempe during the 2012 season. That is the only previous meeting between the two programs.

About Houston: The Cougars enter Thursday at 3-3-1 overall and 0-1 in the Big 12. They lost at UCF 5-0 in last week's conference opener to snap a three-game winning streak.

Juliet Moore leads Houston with three goals with Aryanna Jimison adding two goals and one assist. Olivia Dietrich holds a 1.714 GAA and .769 save percentage in goal.

Dominant start: The Sun Devils went unbeaten in non-conference play for just the second time in program history (2022; 3-0-2). During the 5-0-2 performance, ASU outscored the opposition 19-4 with five multi-goal games and four shutouts.

Only the 2021 (.889) and 2000 (.864) teams had better winning percentages against non-conference opponents than the .857 posted this season.

Twice is nice: Behind a 5-0 record this season when scoring at least two goals, ASU is now 205-13-12 (.917) in program history when scoring multiple goals in a game. In addition, the team is 128-1-1 (.988) when scoring three-plus and 71-0 when scoring at least four goals.

Brace for success: ASU has already set the program record with five different players posting a multi-goal game this season. Kierra Blundell had the team's first hat trick since 2022, while Enasia Colon has twice scored two goals in a game. Megan Sofield, Cameron Valladares, and Keri Matthews each have also recorded a brace this season.

Colon Climbs: Enasia Colon enters Thursday tied for fifth in the Big 12 with 31 shot attempts. She is tied for eighth in the conference with 11 points.

Colon is up to 15th in team history with 42 career points and 16th with 15 career goals. She also ranks in the ASU top 20 in shots, shots on goal, shot percentage, and average goals, assists, and points per game.

Clutch Cam: Cameron Valladares has been a nice addition to the Sun Devil attack, scoring four goals and adding three assists. Her 11  points this season are more than her first two collegiate seasons combined.

Three of the four goals scored by Valladares have been game-winners. That includes her goal with 25 seconds remaining to defeat Utah Tech on Sunday. She is tied for the Big 12 lead in GWG and is one of 21 players in the country with at least three winners this season.

Freshman phenom: Kierra Blundell has burst onto the scene this freshman season, and she currently leads the Sun Devil with five goals and 13 points. She was named Big 12 Co-Freshman of the Week on Sept. 4 after recording the 14th hat trick in ASU history, and the fourth by a freshman, in a 3-0 win over Penn.

Blundell has recorded a point in five of the seven games, including three straight outings from Aug. 25 to Sept. 1. She has also scored one game-winning goal while taking 17 shots.

Nelles notes: Following her program record of nine shutouts last season, Pauline Nelles has posted four clean sheets. She is tied for second in program history with 16 career shutouts and fourth with 24 career wins. Nelles has played 3,330 consecutive minutes in goal for the Sun Devils dating back to the 2022 season.

Top Drawer Soccer ranked Nelles No. 21 in their Preseason Top 100 Players list. She was the highest-ranked player from the Big 12 and was also named to the TDS Preseason Best XI Second Team.

Looking ahead: ASU will head to Orlando following Thursday's game to face UCF on Sunday in the finale of their three-game road swing.