Thomason’s penalty kick leads Sun Devils to 1-0 victory over Pepperdine
Goalkeeper Pauline Nelles recorded her third consecutive shutout bringing her career total to 22.
TEMPE – Sun Devils Soccer (5-0-1) extended its winning streak to four consecutive matches following a 1-0 victory against Pepperdine (2-3-1) on Thursday night at Sun Devil Soccer Stadium.
Senior Pauline Nelles recorded three consecutive shutouts for the first time in her career and it's her fourth this season. Since the 7:45 mark against Texas State, Nelles hasn't allowed a goal to go past her in the last 337 minutes and 17 seconds of play, the second-longest shutout streak of her career. The clean sheet marked the 22nd shutout of her career and is now two away from tying the all-time program record.
Senior Tatum Thomason scored the game-winner off a penalty kick in the 28th minute, burying her third goal of the year and finding the back of the net for the third time in the last four matches.
“It wasn’t going to be an open game in the way we were playing it and so we knew there weren’t going to be many chances in both ends of the pitch so to score the first goal was massive,” said head coach Graham Winkworth. “We knew that it could potentially be a game-winner and so yes, it was huge. We were fortunate to get the penalty and it was a good finish.”
Ball pressure on the defense led to several chances for both sides during the first half of play. Aggression on the press from the forwards helped the Sun Devils possess the ball through the first 12 minutes of play.
After Pepperdine struggled to find any connective passing early, the Waves saw two chances in the 14th minute, but couldn’t capitalize. Following the chance, the next 15 minutes were controlled by Pepperdine as they saw three corner kicks and had four shots.
In the 26th minute, the Sun Devils counterattacked with a through-ball to Adrielle Mibe which led to a corner. Although the cross into the box was unsuccessful, pressure in the attacking third allowed ASU to pounce. After several changes with possession outside the 18, Tatum Thomason was taken down in the box for a chance to take the lead from the spot.
Taking charge after going to ground, Thomason slotted her penalty to the left side of the net in the 28th minute to give ASU a 1-0 lead. The Sun Devils finished the first half in front despite a 6-2 disadvantage in shots.
“I blacked out, to be honest. It kind of popped out and their centerback went to clear it and I kind of just decided to run through it and take a touch around her and then she just caught my foot,” said Tatum Thomason. “With the Penalty Kick, Coach (Winkworth) kind of had a group of people that he wants to take them and I’m glad that he trusts me to take one. Being a senior I have some experience taking them last year and I was just like ‘you know what full confidence I got this I know where I’m gonna put it,’ put my foot through the ball, that’s it.”
The second half began with ASU sending several balls into the box, but the Sun Devils couldn’t find the final pass to convert for a second goal. Following the 60th minute, Pauline Nelles achieved 300 consecutive minutes of play without conceding a goal and the Waves responded by testing her throughout the remainder of the match.
“On our defending, we run our socks off. We obviously had to cover a lot of ground because they had the ball so much but we communicated really well. We fought hard defensively and we stayed organized and compact ultimately that’s what helps us win the game.” Added Winkworth.
Pepperdine dominated possession for much of the second half with a total of three corners and 12 shots. Nelles held firm by making six saves in the second half. For the final 10 minutes, strong defending from centerbacks Grace Gillard and Lucy Fazackerley helped push the Sun Devils through to the final whistle as the score remained 1-0.
“I think we had a lot of the possession in the first ten minutes we came out we were flying, controlled most of the possession and then there was a little sway where we kind of started to let them have it and we got a little disorganized so it was huge to put that (the goal) in”. said Thomason. “Then it’s like okay let’s reset, play like it’s 0-0 and then we came out at half and were like just give everything you have.”
Nelles tallied six saves and the defense completed their fourth clean sheet of the season to keep the Sun Devils unbeaten on the season. Thomason led the team with two shots on goal for the match.
“(Pepperdine) Coach Ward is an incredible coach. He always puts together an incredible team and the one thing I like about the way he coaches also is his teams play beautiful soccer,” said Winkworth. “Obviously they have more possession than us and I love watching them play. It was a lot of running for us because they were passing the ball around so well. That’s a really big result for us, Pepperdine are a powerful team without actually being in the power four. Every year they’re fantastic and Coach Ward does an incredible job.”
The Sun Devils return to play on Sunday, Sept. 7 to take on Denver at 10:00 a.m. MST at Sun Devil Soccer Stadium. The match will be streamed on ESPN+.