Soccer Notches First Ever Win in Big 12 Play in 2-0 Victory at Houston
Photo by: Sun Devil Athletics
See the full match recap with Box score, team stats and match leaders.
Houston – Standout freshman Kierra Blundell scored a goal in each half – her team-leading sixth and seventh of the season – and junior goalkeeper Pauline Nelles posted her fifth shutout of the season to help the Sun Devil soccer team capture its first ever win in Big 12 Conference play with a 2-0 victory over Houston on Thursday night.
Coming off their first loss of the season (1-0 at BYU on Sept. 12), the Sun Devils (6-1-2, 1-1 Big 12) were solid on both ends of the field. Offensively, the Sun Devils outshot the Cougars (3-4-1, 0-2) 16-11 and doubled them up in shots on goal (8-4).
Blundell, who came into the game ranked sixth in the Big 12 in goals per game despite not finding the back of the net in ASU's prior two games, recorded her second multi-goal game of the season. Blundell became the fourth freshman in program history to turn a hat trick in ASU's 3-0 win over Penn on Sept. 1.
Blundell (8 shots/4 SOG) and Cameron Valladares (3 shots/3 SOG) combined for more than half of ASU's shots (11 of 16) and all but one of ASU's shots on goal (7 of 8).
Nelles, who made four saves in Thursday's win, lowered her season GAA to 0.56. Playing a big role in helping Nelles collect her fifth clean sheet was defender Olivia Coleman who personally prevented Houston from creating excellent scoring chances three times in the second half.
Valladares nearly created the game's first scoring opportunity in the 10th minute when she shed a Cougar defender and made her way into the box. The Cougar who Valladares managed to shake loose from was able to recover in time to get foot on the shot Valladares was attempting to get off.
ASU almost scored the game's first goal in the 22nd minute after Enasia Colon and Blundell nearly executed a perfect give-and-go. Just as Colon was about to get a touch on Blundell's pass right in front of the goal, Houston goalkeeper Olivia Dietrich came off her line and was joined by two other Cougar defenders to thwart Colon's chance at getting off a shot.
One minute later, Coleman used her outstanding speed to prevent a potential breakaway attempt by Houston's Cameryn Maddox. Instead of a 1v1 situation with Nelles, Coleman's effort forced Maddox to take her shot outside of the box causing it to come nowhere near the goal.
On the other side of the field, Dietrich came off her line again in the 34th minute to prevent Valladares from scoring after Megan Sofield found Valladares with a pass in stride as she was approaching the Houston goal.
After a pair of near misses, the Sun Devils broke through in the 35th minute when Blundell took a pass from Sofield and blasted a shot from the top of the 18 to score her sixth goal of the season and give ASU the 1-0 lead.
ASU nearly added to its lead in the 37th minute (Blundell) and the 38th minute (Valladares and Addison Haws) after ASU's offensive pressure created a trio of scoring opportunities in the span of 58 seconds. Dietrich had to come up with saves on the shots taken by Blundell and Valladares.
ASU's second goal came in the 67th minute, an indirect result of a corner kick. After Lauren Kirberg's corner kick was cleared out of the penalty area by the Cougars, Lucy Johnson immediately approached the clearance and passed to Ella Opkvitne. Despite having four Cougars in the vicinity, Opkvitne was able to start making her way towards goal with little resistance. Before she could get off a shot, Opkvitne was fouled by a Cougar near the goal. Blundell was successful on the ensuing penalty kick to increase ASU's lead to 2-0.
Final score: 2-0 win
Quick stats:
-2024 Soccer Cumulative Statistics
-History against University of Houston
The Sun Devils play the last of three straight road games on Sunday (12 p.m. EDT/9 a.m. MST) when they take on UCF. The game can be seen on ESPN+.