TEMPE – Sun Devil Soccer began the 2024 season – and Arizona State’s Big 12 era – with a 1-1 draw against Northern Arizona on Friday night at Sun Devil Soccer Stadium. The result capped an emotional two days for the resilient team.
“Tonight, I am incredibly proud of the ladies. It has been a challenging week and the girls have really shown wonderful strength to come together,” ASU head coach Graham Winkworth said. “I love this group very much and cannot thank them enough for all the work they put in today. I want to send a special thank you to our skipper Johno (Lucy Johnson), who has been a wonderful leader both on and off the pitch. She has taken to this role like a duck to water.”
ASU (0-0-1) struck first as freshman Kierra Blundell slid a shot inside the right post from just outside the 6-yard box in the 20th minute. Cameron Valladares played the ball into the area, where it took a deflection off a defender and found the foot of Blundell for the finish.
GOLAZO DEVILS ??
Kierra Blundell with the first goal of the 2024 season in the 20th minute!
ASU 1 | NAU 0 pic.twitter.com/1kdi5ULhwB
— Sun Devil Soccer (@SunDevilSoccer) August 17, 2024
With the goal, Blundell became the first freshman to score in the season opener for ASU since Nicole Douglas scored against Montana in the first game of the 2018 season.
Northern Arizona (0-0-1) secured the equalizer in the 83rd minute when Avery Ott took a failed clearance and found a streaking Deniah Wells, who…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Arizona State University Athletics…