TEMPE – For the first time ever, Sun Devil Soccer knocked off the BYU Cougars in Tempe, Ariz., following a 2-1 result on Thursday night. The win also marked the first for Arizona State outright over BYU since the 2004 season.
For the ninth time in as many matches to open the 2025 season, the Sun Devils scored a first-half goal when Addison Baltodano connected with Cameron Valladares in the six-yard box with just eight minutes having ticked off the scoreboard. The goal marked the first time an Arizona State squad scored first against BYU since the first-ever meeting between the two on Friday, Aug. 27, 1999.
The 1-0 lead for Arizona State stood for the duration of the first half, despite BYU (5-2-1, 0-1-0) totaling six first half shot attempts.
Arizona State came out of halftime looking to double its one-goal advantage as three different Sun Devils combined for four shots over the first 2:45 of the second half. All four shots came within the six-yard box, too, but two were saved by BYU goalkeeper Paiton Collins, who entered the match as the reigning Big 12 Goalkeeper of the Week, while the other two went off the woodwork and back into the field of play.
The fifth time was the charm, though, as Baltodano found the back of the net after passes from Sierra Bergen and Cameron Valladares through the Cougar defense at the 49:11 mark.
Over the course of the next 35 minutes, BYU totaled five shot attempts against Arizona State goalkeeper Pauline Nelles, who earned her 35th career win between the pipes on Thursday evening. The sixth attempt – by Presley Freeman – broke up what would’ve been the first ever clean sheet by ASU against BYU – and Nelles’ 23rd career clean sheet – with the Cougars’ lone goal of the contest.
The Arizona State defense fended off two more shot attempts from BYU throughout the final five minutes to seal the historic win for the Sun Devils.
FROM HEAD COACH GRAHAM WINKWORTH
“What a great game of soccer between two really good teams trying to play good soccer. There were a lot of chances at the goal on both ends. BYU is No. 10, because they are really talented and really well coached. I’m just so delighted in the girls by how they performed: we created enough chances in this game to score more. But I thought we defended like warriors. They put their bodies on the line. They blocked shots. They ran. It was just a phenomenal effort from everyone front to back. I’m just really, really proud of the girls.”
FROM FRESHMAN FORWARD ADDISON BALTODANO
“At morning practice today, we were all already pumped – like we were having a great session – then the energy got brought into warmups tonight. Everyone was feeding off everyone’s energy. We all just believed we could go out there and show what we could do and just do our best tonight and that’s what we did.”
MATCH NOTES
- Thursday night’s victory marked the first ranked win for Arizona State since knocking off then-No. 11 USC, 1-0, on Oct. 19, 2023 in Tempe.
- 2,207 was the announced attendance for Thursday’s match, marking the highest-attended Arizona State soccer match over the last 10 seasons.
- The win was the first for an unranked Arizona State squad over a ranked opponent since February 26, 2020, when the Sun Devils beat then-No. 10 USC 1-0.
- Overall, Arizona State’s win over BYU on Thursday marked the 30th all-time victory over a ranked opponent in program history.
- With the win, Arizona State now has its first seven-match winning streak since the 2002 season.
- By being credited with an assist on Addison Baltodana’s second-half goal, Cameron Valladares now has seven assists on the season, the most by a Sun Devil since Lucy Johnson registered eight throughout the 2022 campaign.
- Thursday’s win marked the first time Arizona State won a conference-opening match since Sept. 22, 2023, when the Sun Devils beat Oregon State, 2-0, in Tempe.
UP NEXT
- Arizona State (8-0-1, 1-0-0) will look to make it eight consecutive wins when the Sun Devils return to the pitch at Sun Devil Soccer Stadium on Thursday, Sept. 25, when ASU takes on Oklahoma State (4-4-1, 0-1-0) at 7 p.m. MST on ESPN+. The Cowgirls are coming off a 1-0 defeat to No. 12 Kansas (7-0-2, 1-0-0) in their Big 12 Conference opener on Thursday, Sept. 18.
FOLLOW US
- For the latest information on the team, follow @SunDevilSoccer on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. General athletic news can also be found at @TheSunDevils on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.