Soccer posts clean sheet over Nevada in season opener
Pauline Nelles secured her 19th career clean sheet as a Sun Devil.
TEMPE – Sun Devil Soccer began the 2025 campaign with a 2-0 shutout win over Nevada Thursday night at Sun Devil Soccer Stadium.
ASU (1-0-0) opened scoring at the 13-minute mark in the first half by way of a Miki Hiyashi corner kick. Then added another goal by Peyton Marcisz in the second half to give the Sun Devils a two-goal advantage.
Hiyashi booted the corner kick into traffic, which deflected off a Nevada (0-1-0) defender into the back of the net to give the Maroon and Gold an early lead minutes into the young season.
"Tonight was a very typical opening day to the season. The first half was littered with nerves and some decision-making that could have been better. I do feel we looked pretty solid defensively but were unable to create as many quality chances as I would have liked," said Head Coach Graham Winkworth.
"I was much more impressed with the patience and quality the girls showed in possession during the second half. We created much better scoring opportunities and scored a lovely goal from open play."
ASU continued to apply consistent pressure from wire-to-wire throughout the first half, which included a golden opportunity on a cross from Tano Uzezi-Itesa to Addison Haws whose shot rang off the left post. The Sun Devils held strong and preserved a 1-0 lead headed into the half.
"We have a long way to go but considering how many new faces saw action tonight, I am delighted for the team that we picked up a positive result against a team who worked very hard all night," said Winkworth.
Four minutes into the second half, transfer junior Peyton Marcisz cleaned up a second-chance effort after a shot on goal from Adreille Mibe. Marcisz crashed the net hard and got rewarded with a rebound to drill home the second goal of the night for ASU. The timely tally was the first goal of Marcisz’s career between UCLA and ASU.
Adrielle with the shot , @peytonmarcisz with the cleanup for the GOAL!
49' ASU 2 | Nevada 0 pic.twitter.com/oJPv8hfpEm
The offense remained in control all night, totalling up 10 shots on-goal opposed to a lone two from Nevada thanks to a stellar defensive effort on the ASU back-end.
Sun Devil goalkeeper Pauline Nelles stopped everything that came her way, allowing zero goals in the outing to pick up the 19th shutout of her career.
ASU now moves to 7-0-2 all-time in season openers under Winkworth and picked up its 13th opening match shutout in program history, the first since 2023 (4-0 W vs. Wright State).
The Sun Devils will now shift gears as a three-match road trip awaits, starting August 21 against Texas at 5 p.m. MST. The following matches include tilts against Texas State on August 24 and a match against UNLV on August 28. The team will return to Tempe on August 31, facing New Mexico State at 7 p.m. MST (ESPN+).
Be sure to stay connected with Sun Devil Soccer throughout the season on social media by following @SunDevilSoccer on Instagram, X and Facebook.