It was clear from the start that ASU had the pace advantage on the Miners, with the Sun Devils having a total of six shots in the first 15 minutes of the first half. The high and aggressive line ASU played with caused the UTEP defense at lot of problems.

Cameron Valladares opened the scoring in the 13th minute with a beautifully placed low-driven shot to give the Sun Devils an early 1-0 lead. Valladares had a great cut back into the box to get on to her left foot and got past a defender to be in a great position to take the strike.

Tatum Thomason was credited with the assist and Grace Gillard was credited with the secondary assist. That was Valladares’ second goal of the season.

ASU controlled the pace of the game for the remainder of the first half and kept constant pressure on the UTEP back line.

The Sun Devil defense didn’t allow the Miners to get the ball into their side of the field for much of the first half. The midfield for ASU played with incredible pace and was flying around the ball, forcing many arid passes by UTEP that resulted in a plethora of Sun Devil interceptions.

The ASU defense was seemingly unfazed by the attack of the Miners, allowing UTEP to get off only four total shots in the half.

Despite the many chances created by the Sun Devil attack, they could only muster that one goal by the time the halftime whistle blew.

ASU had nine total shots and four shots on goal with five corners taken. These numbers show the problems that the Sun Devil attack posed on the UTEP defensive line. 

UTEP had three shots on goal to go along with those four shots; however, it had zero corners taken and committed two fouls in sloppy first half play.

The Sun Devils kicked off the second half looking like the dominant team. They won a corner just five minutes in. Though nothing came out of it, the attack still showed promise of keeping up intensity.

UTEP looked to catch the Sun Devil defense off guard by pushing the ball downfield in a counter attack effort. The ASU midfield, once again, came to the rescue and stifled any momentum the Miners had going forward. 

The game was calm for the next couple of minutes, with the Sun Devils keeping possession of the ball, waiting for another chance to get the ball over the UTEP back line. However, a slip up in the ASU midfield allowed the Miners to gain possession of the ball back, which was rare in this game. 

UTEP wasted no time in turning defense into offense and pushed the ball down the left wing. Dannique Wilson played a beautiful low-driven cross into the box and Ana Quintero was right there to bring the Miners level at 1-1.

The Sun Devils kicked off after the goal, looking shell-shocked. ASU was not able to get the same type of creative passes completed as it was able to prior to the equalizing goal. 

UTEP was able to keep possession of the ball in longer chunks of time, leading to their first corner kick of the match in the 55th minute.

The Sun Devils were able to defend and clear the Miner corner and found a way to get the ball down the left again, this time to Addison Baltodano. Baltodano was able to find Thomason just outside of the 18-yard box.

Thomason was immediately challenged by a UTEP defender, but she shook off the pressure and dribbled past two additional defenders en route to her fifth goal of the season. This goal give ASU a 2-1 lead in the 59th minute.

When asked about her mindset during the match, Thomason focused on her fundamentals.

“I was telling myself, just keep dribbling. Either they are going to foul you or you are going to find a shot, so just keep dribbling,” Thomason said. “I kind of just hit it honestly and it just went in.”

ASU seemed to be back in their groove as it once again put pressure on the UTEP defense.

In the 74th minute, ASU won a corner kick off a deflected cross attempt. Peyton Marcisz whipped in a pass from the corner flag into the box and Lucy Fazackerley was able to get on the receiving end. Fazackerley hit a beautiful header into the back of the net to extend the Sun Devil lead 3-1.

With ASU holding on to a two goal lead, it began focusing on maintaining possession of the ball rather than pushing the pace. Despite only being down two goals and plenty of time to flip the script, UTEP showed no signs of interest in trying to win the ball back and attempt a comeback in the game.

In the 85th minute, Thomason saw an opportunity to add to the lead and played a ball over the top of the Miner backline once again and found Valladares on the right. Valladares’ pace was no match for the UTEP defender as she cruised by and played a perfect ball through the box. She found Baltodano for a beautiful one-touch, far-post strike to give the Sun Devils a 4-1 lead.

The last goal solidified a commanding ASU performance and the Sun Devils went on to win by a three goal margin, 4-1. 

When asked about the win, Head Coach Winkworth was satisfied with the way his team played. With conference play starting, Winkworth showcased how important the victory was. 

“It was really, really important to get this win for so many reasons. It is important to have the momentum, but also important from an RPI standpoint when we are thinking about when we get towards the end of the season, when we start looking at national rankings and things like that,” Winkworth said. “Now we need all these teams that we have been playing to win more.”

UTEP had one goal and one assist on nine total shots and five shots on goal with one corner taken. Goalkeeper Savannah Finley saved four ASU shots and the Miners committed five fouls as a team.

ASU had four goals and six total assists on 18 total shots and eight shots on goal with eight corners taken. Goalkeeper Pauline Nelles had four saves and the Sun Devils committed two fouls as a team.

In addition to the Sun Devils’ win, it was Senior Night and a celebration for 30 years of ASU Soccer.

Now in his ninth season in the Valley, Winkworth was pleased with the crowd in the stands for the match.

“I loved the fact that we combined alumni and senior day together because I have no idea what the attendance was today, but here were a lot of students there, there was a lot of friends and family there, there was alumni there, and it just felt like what I want our college soccer program to look like on a Friday night,” Winkworth said. “I am thankful for everybody that showed up.”

The Miners look to regroup after the loss as they head into their first Conference USA matchup against Louisiana Tech on Sept. 19.

The Sun Devils look to keep momentum going as they head into their first Big 12 matchup against BYU on Sept. 18.