(TEMPE, AZ) Keri Matthews, Gabi Rennie and Lieske Carleer all scored goals and Pauline Nelles posted her sixth clean sheet of the season to help lead the Sun Devil soccer team to a 3-0 win over Colorado College in ASU’s final contest of non-conference play.
HOW IT HAPPENED
First Half
The Sun Devils (5-1-3) wasted no time getting out on the attack as Savannah Maley nearly scored on a 1v1 in the fifth minute. Colorado College goalkeeper Regan Wallace was able to prevent Maley from scoring, but it came at the expense of setting up ASU with a corner kick. The Sun Devils took full advantage of their opportunity for a set piece as Lauren Kirberg’s corner kick was headed into the goal by Keri Matthews to give ASU the lead at the start of the sixth minute.
Gabi Rennie nearly scored ASU’s second goal in the 26th minute when she sprinted past her defender and took a shot that would have beat Wallace but was just wide.
Enasia Colon had a clean look inside the box in the 29th minute but Wallace was in the right spot to make her second save of the game. A minute later, Maley took her second shot of the game that ended up being too high.
The Tigers (0-6-1) were limited to just one shot in the first half.
Second Half
ASU once again came out with an aggressive mindset has Matthews and Lieske Carleer both took shots in the first five minutes.
ASU doubled its lead to 2-0 in the 55th minute when Rennie scored her second goal of the season. Rennie was the beneficiary of a long-distance shot by Colon that Wallace had to leap to get a hand on causing the ball to hit the crossbar instead of going into the net. Fortunately for the Sun Devils, the ball remained in play and – with Wallace still trying to get to her feet after saving Colon’s shot Rennie had a wide open net to knock in the rebound.
In the 63rd minute, Rennie just missed connecting with Maley in front of the Tigers’ net that, had Maley made contact, would likely have given ASU its third goal of the game.
Carleer thought she had her second career goal after getting her head on a free kick by Colon in the 81st minute. The two teams played on until a linesman got the attention of the head referee. After a brief discussion, it was determined Carleer did in fact score to extend ASU’s lead to 3-0.
Noteworthy
With the win, the Sun Devils are now 32-6-6 in regular season, non-conference games going back to 2018, including an 21-1-6 mark since 2020.
Nelles collected her sixth complete-game shutout of the season and the ninth of her career. The six shutouts are the most ever by a student-athlete coached by Graham Winkworth.
The Sun Devils allowed only one shot for the game, ending with major advantages in shots (20-1), shots on goal (11-0) and corner kicks (12-1).
Up Next
The Sun Devils open Pac-12 play next Friday (7 p.m. MST) when they host Oregon State. Click here to purchase tickets.
Quoting Head Coach Graham Winkworth
“Today was an excellent day at the office. We gave the girls three main things to focus on and they really delivered. I am extremely proud of them.
“I love a set piece goal and tonight we were able to get two of them.”
“There were some excellent performances. The work rate was another level tonight and the team has set the bar for the rest of the season.”
“Although I thought everyone played well, I want to give a special shout out to Gabs who has put a lot of focus on certain aspects of her game in training. She caused a lot of problems [for Colorado College] tonight and deserves some special credit.”
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