(Photo: Brendan Belfield/WCSN)
ASU made history on senior day in a match that saw four seniors find the back of the net and two ASU records be broken on the same goal in a 4-1 rout against Utah. The Sun Devils entered the match after winning their first conference game of the year at home at Colorado, an opponent that head coach Graham Winkworth had never beaten. Utah has also been a thorn in the side of Winkworth and the team, but ASU looked driven with the significant implications of Senior Day.
“Today is all about 11 really special women that have been incredible for this program,” Winkworth said. “Senior day is often the easiest day to motivate your team because you run for your seniors.”
ASU blitzed the Utah defense from the first kick, shoving the ball down the field. The Sun Devils created many opportunities early on, so it was not surprising that graduate student forward Olivia Kearse-Thomas found the net in the third minute to give ASU the early 1-0 lead. Kearse-Thomas was the first senior of the day to find the back of the net for ASU but was certainly not the last.
Kearse-Thomas scored the goal off a deflected shot that fellow senior forward Nicole Douglas pounded. Douglas entered the match one goal away from breaking the single-season goals record, and the power from her kicks were clear indicators of that. In the 5th minute, Douglas kicked a cannon towards the goal, which should’ve been number 18 of the year, but Utes’ sophomore goalkeeper Chelsea Peterson could endure the full blast of it.
“I had a couple of chances in the first half that I didn’t put in the back of the net,” Douglas said. “Play the game that I always play because chances will come, and I have to make sure to put them away.”
Douglas and the Sun Devils early on were the enforcers, but after the initial frenzy of ASU, the Utes were able to respond. The Utah started giving ASU a taste of their own medicine by pounding the box and making the defense scramble. It all converged to a beautiful shot by Utah junior midfielder Courtney Talbot from outside the right side of the box, finding the opposite side corner of the net.
The Utes responded quickly to the Sun Devils’ initial push, but ASU responded even quicker. In the 17th minute, forward Olivia Nguyen recovered a rebound and gave ASU a second chance opportunity for the 2-1 lead, becoming the second Sun Devil senior to score.
And again, the original shot was conducted by Douglas, still seeking that record-breaking goal. While Douglas was looking to break a record, graduate student defender Jayda Hylton-Pelaia was looking to cause problems for the Utes offense. Hylton-Pelaia pestered the ball and eventually streaked down the sideline, where she collided with junior Utah midfielder Brianna Pearson.
The hard collision resulted in the two pushing one another and getting into each other’s faces. The confrontation ended with Hylton-Pelaia shoving the back of Pearson’s head that resulted in her flopping onto the ground. Both received a red card, resulting in an early end to Hylton-Pelaia’s final home game as a Sun Devil.
“The red card is unfortunate, but I can’t praise Jayda enough,” Winkworth said. “She’s been incredible all season long. I have nothing but praise for Jayda and am happy that we could get a senior win for her as well.”
The red card issued changed the game to 10-10, which seemed to affect both sides early as neither could get into an offensive rhythm the rest of the first half. The Sun Devils interior defense held onto the 2-1 lead heading into the break.
The second half saw ASU adjust well to the new playing environment as they reciprocated the early fast start at the beginning of the game. Nguyen decided to share the senior luck with fellow senior forward Cori Sullivan, as she found Sullivan posting up her defender inside the box to get the easy goal in the 48th minute to extend the lead 3-1.
“We went to a 4-2-3 because I still felt we could spread them out because we have an incredible midfield,” Winkworth said. “I felt the two [midfielders] could handle whatever was thrown at us, and we did.”
Winkworth wanted to spread the field and make the pitch as big as possible to tire out the Utes players. He explicitly mentioned the weather being a factor for a Utah team not used to higher fall temperatures causing them to limit their attack because of exhaustion.
While ASU surely had the victory in hand, there was only one way for senior day to end for the Sun Devils, with history. Douglas witnessing three fellow senior teammates’ scores galvanized the nation’s leader in goals to get back on the attack. Throughout the second set, Douglas penetrated the Utes defense, trying to find a hole to attack, and in the 74th minute, history was made.
After an outlet pass by senior Eva van Deursen, Douglas crossed past a Utah defender and kicked her way in Sun Devils history with her 18th goal of the season. A 22-year-old record set back in 1999 by Stacey Tullock is now reserved for the four-year Sun Devil Nicole Douglas.
“It’s always nice to break a record, especially at a brilliant D-I school with alumni being so fantastic,” Douglas said. “Credit to Eva for the assist, and I managed to get the goal, but the whole team played really well today.”
Douglas was swarmed by her teammates, hugging, throwing their hands in the air, letting all the emotions spill out onto the field. The bench erupted, all chanting “Dougie!” repeatedly to commemorate Douglas on what was a historic senior night.
However, that goal by Douglas didn’t just break one record; it broke two. Van Deursen making the record-breaking pass to Douglas caused her to make her own ASU record as she moved to the sole spot for the single-season assist record in ASU history with 10.
“I did know I was close, but I didn’t know I was that close,” Van Deursen chuckled. “Breaking my own record and then setting up [Douglas] to break her record, that was just perfect.”
The goal would put ASU up 4-1 and ice the game, but not before Winkworth subbed out all the seniors separately to allow them to get an ovation from the family-filled crowd on senior day.
ASU would win and hold a ceremony for all the departing seniors after the match to honor the legacy of their Sun Devils career. While the game would be a fitting end for any team’s season, there is still one more challenge for the Sun Devils, one that has been elusive for Winkworth and the Sun Devils: a win against Arizona.
“There’s been 11 teams that we’ve been able to get wins against and one that hasn’t, and that’s the team down south,” Winkworth said. “Going into this weekend, there were three teams that we’ve failed to beat in the last four and a half years, and two of them we beat this week. So we need to get the hat-trick result against U of A.”
ASU has an outside shot at the NCAA tournament, but with a win against the 37th ranked RPI team in Colorado and a 65th ranked team in Utah, the Sun Devils are not dead yet heading down to their season finale in Tucson. Nevertheless, if the Sun Devils make the tournament or not, the team can celebrate today with a senior day that will go down in the program’s history books.
