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Soccer preview: at New Mexico State

Soccer preview: at New Mexico StateSoccer preview: at New Mexico State

LAS CRUCES, N.M.  –  On the heels of a successful 2025-26 year for Sun Devil Athletics, 10th-year head coach Graham Winkworth and his Arizona State women’s soccer program will have the honor of opening the 2026-27 campaign for ASU on Wednesday, Aug. 12, when the Sun Devils begin their regular season slate at New Mexico State (6 p.m. MST/ESPN+).

Television 

  • Arizona State’s season opener will be available to stream on ESPN+ via three different apps: ESPN, Hulu or Disney+.
    • MJ Newsom (play-by-play) and Brian Cox (color analyst) will call Wednesday night’s action on the broadcast.

Series history

  • When Arizona State and New Mexico State kick off Wednesday’s action, it will mark the first time the two women’s soccer programs have opened a season against each other.
    • The Sun Devils and Aggies did, however, play an exhibition match on Sunday, Aug. 12, 2018, which was the first of three exhibition matches for ASU before its season opener against Montana on Aug. 23.
  • Arizona State will take a 4-0 all-time record against New Mexico State into Las Cruces.
    • The Sun Devils, coming off a 1-0 win over the Aggies on Aug. 31, 2025, will be looking for a win in back-to-back seasons for the first time in the series history.
  • Wednesday will mark the first time Arizona State has played New Mexico State in Las Cruces since Aug. 24, 2023, when the Sun Devil earned a 4-1 victory behind a 5-point (two goals, one assist) performance by Enasia Colon.
  • Entering Wednesday’s competition, no active Sun Devils have played in both the last two matchups against the Aggies in 2023 and 2025.

Kicking off

  • Wednesday night’s match will mark the earliest Arizona State has ever kicked off a regular season schedule at any point in its 30-year history.
    • The previous earliest match was on Thursday, Aug. 14, 2025, when the Sun Devils beat Nevada 2-0 in Tempe.
  • Arizona State is 21-5-4 all time in season-opening matches, dating back to its first-ever match on Friday, Sept. 6, 1996.
    • The 21 wins in season openers are tied for the most wins in a particular match for ASU in its program history.
      • The Sun Devils have also won 21 times in the second and fifth matches of the season.
  • The Sun Devils will be looking for their first win in a Wednesday match since Sept. 14, 2022, when they beat Grambling State, 5-0, in Tempe.
    • ASU dropped its last Wednesday contest, 2-1, to Kansas on Oct. 30, 2024, when the two programs met in the opening round of the 2024 Big 12 Soccer Championship in Kansas City, Mo.
  • ASU will begin the 2026 regular season with 14 international student-athletes: Brazil (1), Canada (5), Colombia (1), England (3), Japan (1), Netherlands (1), Norway (1), Slovenia (1).
  • 2026 will mark the first time Arizona State has not had its starting goalkeeper start the first match of the previous season since 2022 (Birta Gudlaugsdottir) and 2023 (Pauline Nelles).
    • Nelles started the first match of the 2023, 2024 and 2025 seasons in net before exhausting her collegiate eligibility following the 2025 campaign.
  • If Kennedy Zorn (Arizona) or Izzy Duink (California) start in goal for the Sun Devils to begin Wednesday’s match, it will mark the first time since 2021 (Julia Ortega, California) that Arizona State has started an American-born student-athlete at goalkeeper for a season-opening match.

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