TEMPE – Despite Arizona State and Texas Tech’s women’s soccer programs having already played six times throughout the Sun Devils’ history, when Thursday’s match kicks off at 7 p.m. MST at Sun Devil Soccer Stadium, it will mark the first time the two have ever played in a soccer match in either Tempe, Ariz., or Lubbock, Texas.
All six prior matchups between the Sun Devils and Red Raiders have happened in Tucson, Ariz., as part of the Arizona Classic.
Television
- Thursday’s match against No. 12 Texas Tech will be available to watch on ESPN+ with Ryan Sykora (play-by-play) and Adrian Pelayo (analyst) calling the action.
Series history
- Thursday will mark the first-ever time Arizona State and Texas Tech’s women’s soccer programs have played a match at a non-neutral site location. Prior to this week, the two squads had played six teams, all of which were away from Tempe, Ariz., and Lubbock, Texas.
- Arizona State will be looking for its first win over Texas Tech since Sept. 12, 2021, when the Sun Devils knocked off the Red Raiders, 3-2, in a neutral-site matchup at Tucson, Ariz. At the break, the Sun Devils led, 1-0, before adding two more goals less than 15 minutes into the second half. The Red Raiders scored their two goals during the match within seven minutes from the 63rd minute to the 70th minute of the contest.
- A clean sheet by Arizona State on Thursday would mark the program’s first-ever clean sheet against Texas Tech in six all-time meetings between the two. The Sun Devils have lost, 1-0, to the Red Raiders on three different occasions, including the most recent matchup on Sept. 10, 2023, in Tucson, Ariz.
Kicking off
- If she plays all 90 minutes of Thursday night’s match, Pauline Nelles (2022-P) will pass Erin Reinke (1997-00) for the second-most minutes played by an Arizona State goalkeeper in program history. Chandler Morris (2011-15) holds the record for minutes played for a Sun Devil goalkeeper at 7124:06.
- If Nelles starts between the pipes for Arizona State against Texas Tech, it will be her 72nd career match, pushing her past Erin Reinke (1997-00) for second place on the program’s career matches started list by a Sun Devil goalkeeper. Chandler Morris (2011-15) holds the program record with 78 career starts by an ASU keeper.
- Arizona State will enter Thursday’s match with a 5-0-2 (.857) record in matches played on Thursdays throughout the 2025 campaign. The Sun Devils are 3-0-1 in such games in Tempe, while 2-0-1 away from Sun Devil Soccer Stadium.
- Arizona State is looking to avoid being shutout for its third consecutive match for the first time since the 2023 season, when UCLA (Oct. 22), Utah (Oct. 26) and Colorado (Oct. 29) all combined to prevent the Sun Devils from finding the back of the net. Overall, ASU has not scored a goal in three or more consecutive matches just eight times in program history. Of those eight occurrences, though, just two have happened under head coach Graham Winkworth.
- A win over No. 12 Texas Tech on Thursday evening would mark the first time Arizona State has beaten multiple ranked opponents in Tempe, Ariz., during the same season since 2008, when the Sun Devils beat then-No. 7 USC, 1-0, on Oct. 19 after beating then-No. 20 UC Santa Barbara, 1-0, on Sept. 26. 2000 is the only other season in program history in which ASU beat multiple ranked opponents at home in the same season.
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