Arizona State set its eyes on victory, yet Oklahoma State felt content with a tie.

“[Oklahoma State] came here to try and get a point,” head coach Graham Winkworth said. “They got what they came for.”

The Cowgirls settled into a 5-4-1 formation for the entire game, looking to keep ASU off the board and force a 0-0 tie. The Sun Devils countered by being on the attack, winning the shots-on-goal battle 28-6. 

ASU failed to convert any of these opportunities.

The Sun Devils’ best look came in the 41st minute, when senior midfielder/forward Tatum Thomason took a penalty kick. Cowgirls sophomore goalkeeper Logan Marks made an incredible, full-extension dive for the save. 

Thomason had an even better look on the rebound, but Marks made yet another great save. 

“[Marks] did a wonderful job,” Winkworth said. “The second save was even better.”

The Sun Devils had several prime opportunities, most notably on an indirect free kick in the 82nd minute after Marks was issued a yellow card; however, ASU failed to convert any of these attempts.

Sun Devils senior goalkeeper Pauline Nelles pitched a shutout, although she faced just six shots on goal and two shots on frame. 

Winkworth credited Oklahoma State's defensive challenge to ASU. 

“They stopped [our wing players] by playing a very deep 5-4-1, so there was no space,” Winkworth said.

Despite this, Winkworth emphasized his team also missed many opportunities and needs to do a better job of converting chances, as the Sun Devils’ inaccuracy around the net was their biggest foible. 

“The problem here is that we’ve had 28 shots and only nine of them have gone on target,” Winkworth said.

Senior midfielder Peyton Marcisz echoed a similar sentiment.

“[You] can’t expect to win a game with 28 shots and only nine on frame,” Marcisz said.

When ASU put the ball on frame, Marks was lights-out, saving all nine shots on target.

“I’ll be voting for [Marks] for goalkeeper of the week this week,” Winkworth said.

It’s a frustrating draw for an ASU team coming off its most significant victory of the season over No. 10 BYU. The Sun Devils felt this was certainly a winnable game against a .500 opponent, but they will settle for just one point. 

“They were looking to get the tie today and we were looking to get the win, so we weren’t going to stop,” senior defender Grace Gillard said. 

This dynamic certainly adds to the frustration for ASU, which went on the attack, while their opponents parked the bus and simply tried to keep them out of the back of the net.

Gillard said she felt similarly to her teammate, Marcisz, and her head coach about the need to convert their opportunities for shots on goal. She also took a degree of personal responsibility.

“We had a lot of bouncing balls and things like that, and it’s just taking the ownership to put them in the back of the net,” Gillard said…  “I could have buried a header today and I didn’t.”

On the attack almost the entire game, it felt like the game was right there for the Sun Devils’ taking. 

“We got loads of chances,” Winkworth said.

Instead, it’s a shutout for Marks, who couldn’t have asked for a better showing after having to leave OSU’s previous game after just 33 minutes with an injury.

Despite the frustration of failing to beat a lesser opponent, ASU found plenty of optimism from Thursday's loss. 

“I think tonight demonstrates how far our program has come in that short space of time,” Winkworth said.

Winkworth’s squad finished the season at 8-8-3, and just 3-7-1 in conference play. In 2025, the Sun Devils remain undefeated two games into conference play at 8-0-2, looking ahead to a key Big 12 matchup Sunday, when they host UCF.

“If teams are respecting us enough to play us that way, then we’ve come a very, very long way.”

Perhaps a more important reason for the team’s optimism is the way ASU responded in the locker room after Thursday’s match–disappointed.

“It just shows that we want to win,” Gillard said. “That’s a credit to the characters that we have in the dressing room. If we’re disappointed with a tie, then you know we want to win.”