TEMPE, Ariz. — Ice-cold Gatorade splashed over Head Coach Graham Winkworth moments after Arizona State’s 3-1 win over Denver — not just to celebrate the victory, but to commemorate his 250th career win.
Since arriving in Tempe in 2017, Winkworth has steadily built toward that milestone. His latest eight-year chapter with ASU adds to a collegiate coaching career that’s spanned 22 years.
“I can’t remember No. 1, it was so long ago,” Winkworth said, laughing. “Hopefully it doesn’t take another 22 plus years to get the next 250, but I love that I’ve been blessed to work with some incredible teammates, staff, coaches, but ultimately the players.”
The milestone came on a sweltering Sunday morning at Sun Devil Soccer Stadium, with the game itself nearly mirroring the start the team had three days prior against Pepperdine. Senior forward Tatum Thomason scored on a penalty kick after a handball by the Pioneers in the box.
The goal came in the sixth minute of the game, giving the Maroon and Gold an early lead over the Pioneers.
With the lead in hand, ASU kept testing redshirt junior goalkeeper Alina Santos with chance after chance. Nonetheless, despite the sustained pressure, they couldn’t find the back of the net.
“We do create a lot of chances to get into areas where we win set pieces,” Winkworth said. “The girls did a great job causing chaos and then putting those balls away.”
Later in the second half, senior forward Brook Ahern equalized the game for Denver in the 78th minute, giving the Pioneers life.
However, Sparky had more in the tank, as ASU grabbed the lead back thanks to senior defender Izzy Monck, giving the Sun Devils the 2-1 lead in the 81st minute.
“Just bringing the fight all the way to the end,” Monck said, on the key to pulling out a victory. “Especially once they got that equalizer (and) still had 13 minutes left. It was time to bring it and put two away, so a good goal to finish it out and close the game off at the end.”
What seemed like seconds later, sophomore forward Sierra Bergen scored her third goal of the season, giving ASU the two-goal lead late.
“Getting that equalizer from Izzy was especially important because that gave us even more energy to go get another, and just keep going and give us confidence,” Bergen said. “But we’re a team that’s never gonna quit, no matter what time is left on the clock.”
ASU heard the final whistle minutes later, securing a 3-1 victory and improving to a record of 6-0-1, remaining unbeaten in non-conference action.
“We feel great,” Bergen said on going into conference play. “This team is going to do big things this year. I think we all kind of feel that in the team, and going 6-0-1 shows that we are a good team.”
Winkworth’s squad plays one final non-conference game against the UTEP on Friday at 7 p.m. AZT at Sun Devil Soccer Stadium — it’s also the team’s Senior Night.
“We’re really excited to start conference play one more night, Senior Night,” Monck said. “That’ll be a fun night, but then after that, we focus and get into conference play and will be strong.”
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