TEMPE – Less than 12 hours after Sun Devil Football recorded eye-popping offensive numbers at Mountain American Stadium, Sun Devil Soccer was locked in a defensive battle – that was ultimately determined by a penalty kick in the 33’ – against No. 9 North Carolina inside Sun Devil Soccer Stadium.
Entering Sunday morning’s contest averaging 21.60 shots per match and nine shots on goal, the Arizona State defense locked down the Tar Heel offense and limited UNC (5-1-0) to a season-low four shot attempts. Of those two, only two were on goal: Summer Denigan’s eventual match winner at 33:01 and a Bella Devey attempt at 34:47 that was easily gathered by Sun Devil goalkeeper Kennedy Zorn.
Ella Kettles, playing in her 38th career match as a Sun Devil over the last three seasons, nearly had the equalizer for Arizona State with less than a minute to play in the first half as the third-year junior midfielder gathered a loose ball in the UNC defensive third/ASU’s offense third, then proceeded to work around a pair of Tar Heels before firing off a shot attempt from 24 yards out.
Unfortunately, the ball sailed over the cross bar. The shot attempt was one of just three in the match for the Sun Devils with Amy Medley’s attempt in the 48’ forcing a Peyton Trayer save, while Lucy Fazackerley’s attempt inside the 12-yard box at 79:00 was blocked by a Tar Heel defender.
Despite not recording any more shot attempts outside of Medley and Fazackerley’s throughout the second half, the Sun Devils had North Carolina on its heels on multiple occasions: Emmie Ennis was left unmarked inside the 12-yard box, Kierra Blundell beat outside backs in 1-on-1 opportunities and the trio of Sierra Bergen, Ava Willard and Mya Angus were using their speed on the outside to open up the middle of the pitch.
Scoring Summary
33’, 1-0, UNC, Penalty by Summer Denigan
From Head Coach Graham Winkworth
“Obviously, we were set up in a way where we were not going to play too much pretty soccer today, but the girls ran their socks off. We were extremely organized, defensively, and I really mean it. I think (Kennedy Zorn) made one, maybe two saves in the game. I think (UNC) had four total shots and one of them was a penalty kick, so I am really proud of our efforts defensively. I wanted to be in the game – going into the last 15 minutes – and we were. We just needed a little bit of luck and a ball bouncing a different way, ricocheting a different way in the penalty area – like it did on Thursday – and that's a 1-1 game. But it wasn't meant to be today.”
From senior midfielder Peyton Marcisz
“We were told to focus on what we’re good at and a lot of it was set pieces, because we have a lot of height on the team. So, the coaching staff was telling us to play the ball in the air and play long balls, because (UNC) didn’t want that. We could tell (UNC’s) coaches were wanting to play on the ground, so we wanted to channel what we thought could make us successful. They were pressing us, but we were pressing them right back, so we had some chances to build some momentum. But we just couldn’t convert that one opportunity.”
Match Notes
- By playing all 90 minutes on the defensive back line against the Tar Heels, second-year Sun Devil Lucy Fazackerley has surpassed 2,000 career minutes played (2052:55) in the Arizona State Maroon and Gold.
- In 65 matches over her four-year collegiate career between East Carolina and Arizona State, Fazackerley has played 5466:45.
- Ella Kettles (2897:02) is the only active Sun Devil to have played more career minutes in an Arizona State kit than Fazackerley.
Up Next
Arizona State (4-1-2) will conclude the non-conference portion of its 2026 regular season slate on Friday, Sept. 11, when the Sun Devils take on Grambling State (1-4-1) in a match presented by Mountain America Credit Union.
Follow Us
For the latest information on the team, follow @SunDevilSoccer on X, Facebook and Instagram. General athletic news can also be found at @TheSunDevils on X, Instagram and Facebook.