TEMPE – After a 13-day hiatus, Sun Devil Soccer remained unbeaten after taking down Grambling State 5-0 on Wednesday night. Nicole Douglas, the program’s all-time leading goal scorer, achieved the fourth single-game, school-record tying hat trick of her Sun Devil career and added to her collegiate resume by becoming the program’s career leader in points (126) and game-winning goals (17).
Douglas, who has scored all eight of her goals this season in ASU’s last four games, now has 27 goals since the start of the 2021 season, a span of 25 games.
“From freshman year to now, I can tell you [Nicole Douglas] is a completely different player. She grew so much, on and off the field,” graduate Alexia Delgado noted after playing with Douglas since they arrived in Tempe in 2018. “She takes things seriously. She has just become that athlete that she needed to be to break the record. I’m super happy for her.”
Delgado scored in back-to-back games for the first time in her career as a Sun Devil thanks to superior passing by Eva van Deursen and Enasia Colon in the 34th minute of the game. Goalkeeper’s Pauline Nelles and Birta Gudlaugsdottir split playing time as they kept a clean sheet for the Sun Devils, the first since Sept. 17, 2021 against Colorado College in a 2-0 win.
NO GAME IN 13 DAYS? NO PROBLEM.
Arizona State (3-0-2) dominated the first half, putting up 19 shots with 10 shots on goal by the end of the first half.
The play of sophomore Keri Matthews served as an early sign that the Sun Devils would need minimal time to prove the gap since their last game did not halt their offensive urgency. Matthews took the ball down the flank, wearing down the defense in the opening minutes. Douglas had a good look early in the game, with her rebound shot hitting the crossbar to kick off what would become an eventful first half, as ASU fired three shots in under a minute. The Sun Devils had twelve shots before Grambling State (3-6) posted its first of the game.
“I thought we started really well and controlled the game,” ASU head coach Graham Winkworth said when asked if the layoff affected the Sun Devils. “I particularly liked how we switched the point of attack for that first goal,” Winkworth added about how the team set up what led to Douglas’ first goal of the game.
DOUGIE DELIVERS AGAIN
Coming off a record setting performance against UAB almost two weeks ago. No. 9 found the back…
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