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Decision Day: Soccer on verge of second consecutive conference tournament berth

Arizona State earns a berth in the Big 12 Conference Championship with win at Arizona, Houston loss or tie at TCU

Decision Day: Soccer on verge of second consecutive conference tournament berthDecision Day: Soccer on verge of second consecutive conference tournament berth
by Chris Brown

TUCSON, Ariz. – It’s simple for the Sun Devil Soccer program: Beat Territorial Cup rival Arizona at 7 p.m. MST on Thursday, Oct. 30, at Mulcahy Stadium in Tucson – and TCU beat Houston the same night – and Arizona State will earn the eighth and final spot in next week’s Big 12 Conference Championship.

Arizona State (10-5-3, 3-5-2), BYU (8-6-3, 3-5-2), Cincinnati (5-7-6, 3-5-2) and Houston (7-3-7, 2-3-5) all sit tied for eighth place on the conference table heading into Thursday’s Decision Day. The Sun Devils have the head-to-head tiebreaker over BYU (2-1, ASU, on Sept. 18) and Cincinnati (1-0, ASU, on Oct. 2), but did not play Houston during the regular season.

ASU could also get into the tournament if … 

  • The Sun Devils/Wildcats and Cougars/Horned Frogs both tie, and BYU (at Utah) and Cincinnati (at West Virginia) both lose
  • ASU/Houston both earn wins, while BYU/Cincinnati both lose; or all four teams – along with Kansas State (vs. Iowa State) – lose or tie. (If all four teams win, Cincinnati advances.)

Due to the Sun Devils not playing the Cougars this season, if the two end the regular season tied in points, points against common conference opponents becomes the first tiebreaker and then total wins against common conference opponents is the second tiebreaker.

Arizona State and Houston have played BYU, UCF, Cincinnati, West Virginia, Colorado, Texas Tech, Iowa State and Utah. When going through the eight-team list, the Sun Devils edge the Cougars in points against common conference opponents, 10-9, entering Thursday.

ASU also holds the second tiebreaker over UH as well with three total wins against common conference opponents (BYU, Cincinnati, Utah) to the Cougars’ two (Cincinnati, Iowa State).  

Television

  • Daron Sutton (play-by-play) and Mackenzie Hamilton (analyst) will serve as the broadcast talent for Thursday night’s ESPN+ broadcast, which will be available to stream on the ESPN app.

 Series history

  • Arizona State will travel south down I-10 to Tucson with an 18-12-1 record against Arizona. Of those 18 victories for the Sun Devils, eight have come at Mulcahy Stadium on the campus of the Wildcats.
  • When it takes the pitch on Thursday night, Arizona State will be looking for its first win over Arizona in Tucson since Nov. 6, 2015, when the Sun Devils won, 4-1, against the then-No. 23 Wildcats behind a hat trick from 2025 Sun Devil Hall of Fame inductee Cali Farquharson. The performance was the third of three career hat tricks for the Phoenix native. It also remains the only hat trick by an ASU women’s soccer student-athlete against Arizona.
  • Thursday’s match will mark the first time Arizona State and Arizona have played against each other during the month of October in back-to-back seasons since 2009 and 2010. In 2009, the Wildcats won, 2-1, in double overtime in Tucson, before the Sun Devils responded with a 2-1 victory in regulation a season later in Tempe. Last season, Arizona won 1-0 in Tempe to set up Thursday’s meeting.
  • Arizona State is looking for its first clean sheet victory over Arizona since Friday, Nov. 7, 2014, when Chandler Morris saved four shots on goal attempts throughout a 90-minute performance in Tempe. The Sun Devils have been credited with only one clean sheet win against the Wildcats in Tucson: Friday, Oct. 16, 1998.

Kicking off

  • Entering Thursday’s matchup, Arizona State has not lost a match following a one-goal defeat in the previous match throughout the 2025 season. After the Sun Devils lost, 3-2, to UCF at home on Sunday, Sept. 28, they beat Cincinnati, 1-0, on the road on Thursday, Oct. 2. Three days after dropping a 3-2 result to then-No. 12 Texas Tech in Tempe on Thursday, Oct. 16, ASU played to a 90-minute, 1-1 tie at Iowa State on Sunday, Oct. 19.
  • Despite playing Arizona in Tucson only 16 times, Arizona State has a 22-15-1 (.592) all-time record in collegiate soccer matches played down south on I-10 as a result of playing neutral site matches in the Arizona Classic, which was hosted by the Wildcats.

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