MORGANTOWN, W.V. – Looking to leapfrog into the top four of the Big 12 Conference standings, Sun Devil Soccer will travel to the Mountain State this weekend for its first-ever road match at West Virginia. The meeting, which is scheduled for 9 a.m. MST / 12 p.m. ET on Sunday, Oct. 5, will pit the fifth (WVU) and sixth (ASU) place teams in the league against each other.
Television
- Sunday morning’s contest between Arizona State and West Virginia will be available to stream on ESPN+ with Andrew Caridi (play-by-play) and Nick Farrell (analyst) serving as the broadcast talent.
Series history
- Sunday will mark just the second time Arizona State and West Virginia have ever met on a soccer pitch, after last season’s match on Sept. 26, 2024, marking the first.
- During last season’s meeting, West Virginia took an early one-goal lead when Gianna Koss found the back of the net just 11 minutes, 40 seconds into the match. 36 seconds later, Kierra Blundell scored the equalizer for the Sun Devils. But Ajanae Respass’ goal at the 33:54 mark of the first half pushed the Mountaineers ahead, 2-1, and stood for the duration of the first half and entirety of the second to go down as the match winner.
- After playing last season’s match in Tempe, Ariz., Arizona State will play its first-ever match against West Virginia on Sunday morning in Morgantown, W.V.
Kicking off
- A win on Sunday morning would give Arizona State its 10th win on the season and mark the fourth time under ninth-year head coach Graham Winkworth the Sun Devils have won 10 or more matches in a single season. 2025 would mark the third consecutive odd-numbered season (10 – 2021, 10 – 2023) in which ASU has won 10 matches in a single season. 2023 was the last time Sun Devil women’s soccer won double-digit matches in a season.
- Dating back to her debut album, Taylor Swift, released on Oct. 24, 2006, Arizona State women’s soccer is 3-4 all-time in matches immediately following an album release by Taylor Swift. The Sun Devils last won the match immediately following an album release during the 2019 season, when Swift released Lover on Aug. 23, 2019 and ASU beat Central Arkansas, 7-1, on Aug. 25, 2019. Before Sunday, 2023 (1989 Taylor’s Version was released on Oct. 27, ASU lost at Colorado, 4-0, on Oct. 29) was the last time Winkworth’s program played a soccer match days after a Swift album release. ASU is 0-4 all-time under these circumstances when playing on the road.
- If Pauline Nelles is credited with a solo clean sheet on Sunday, the senior goalkeeper will surpass Chandler Morris (2011-15) for the most career clean sheets in program history and become the first Sun Devil Women’s Soccer student-athlete in program history with 25 or more clean sheets.
- If Pauline Nelles draws the starting assignment for Arizona State between the pipes on Sunday, she’ll become just the third goalkeeper in program history to play in 70 or more career matches. At the plateau, she’ll join Chandler Morris (78; 2011-15) and Erin Reinke (73; 1997-00).
- Sunday’s match will mark Arizona State’s first-ever soccer contest in West Virginia, the 36th different state the Sun Devils have played a game in.
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