Texas Tech University Athletics
Texas Tech Athletics
Arizona State
Zdrojewski’s brace powers No. 12 Tech to 3-2 win at ASU
October 17, 2025 | Women's Soccer
The Red Raider striker notched her fourth brace of the season to send Texas Tech to its eighth straight Big 12 road win
TEMPE, Ariz. – She scored one in the first five. She added one in the last five.
Behind a late 85th minute upper-90 rocket from Taylor Zdrojewski, No. 12 Texas Tech Soccer pulled out a late 3-2 dramatic win over Arizona State Thursday night at the Sun Devil Soccer Stadium.
Riding high after a pair of first half goals, Texas Tech (11-1-2, 5-0-2 Big 12) survived a pair of second half goal from a game Arizona State (9-4-2, 2-4-1 Big 12) squad to close out the programs eighth-straight Big 12 road win and maybe its most dramatic regular season win since Hannah Anderson's buzzer-beating goal in Austin to defeat Texas back on Sept. 21, 2023.
After scoring her 11th goal of the season in the fifth minute, Zdrojewski closed out her fourth brace of the season in the 85th to vault the Red Raiders back to the top of the Big 12 table. The multi-goal game was her fifth career and brought her career total for goals to 22, the ninth-most in school history.
Based on tonight's results, the Red Raiders sit alone in first place after TCU downed Baylor 3-0 and WVU tied at Kansas, 2-2.
The Red Raiders sit on 17 total points, one clear of both TCU and Colorado who are on 16 points. Baylor and WVU sit tied for fourth at 14 points following the seventh of 11 total league games.
Not to be lost in the victory were three key saves from goalkeeper Faith Nguyen, who despite allowing her first Big 12 road goal since Sept. 26, 2024, made a key 54th minute acrobatic save on ASUs Norah Bell and a diving stop in the 72nd minute to keep the game tied.
Armed with the one-goal lead, the Red Raiders doubled their advantage in the 31st minute when Sam Courtwright played Macy Blackburn, who after a couple of touches dropped a perfect pass to Storie Sexton. The Lewisville native slotted home a perfect shot past a diving Pauline Nelles.
The goal was Sexton's first of the season as she became the ninth Red Raider to score a goal this season. She ultimately added the second assist on the "Z" game-winner to record her first career game with a goal and an assist.
With the two goals from Zdrojewski and Sexton, the Red Raiders took a 2-0 lead in the break.
Flying out of the locker room, Arizona State used four shots over the first 15 minutes of the half to tie the match at two.
Neither side was ultimately able to break the ice until the 85th when the heroics of Zdrojewski sent the Red Raiders into the win column.
With the three-goal performance in the win, the Red Raiders improved to 44-0-1 in their last 45 games when scoring twice and to 53-2-1 in the last 56 games when striking at least twice. Texas Tech also improved to 6-1 all-time in the series against ASU and are now a perfect 2-0-0 in Tempe all-time.
HEAD COACH TOM STONE:
"We were outstanding in the first half and stormed out to a two-goal lead. We warned the team at halftime that Arizona State is a proud team and really needs points. We knew we'd see something different from them in the second half. Credit ASU they were great after halftime. They came after us and pressed us a little higher and forced some turnovers. At the same time, we got really hasty with the ball, and it was not a good possession performance from us. But it was a gutsy, resilient, play to the finish line performance by us. We calmed down enough in the last 10 minutes to create some real chances. We got numbers in the box and created service. And then the ball fell to one of the best goal scorers we've had throughout the years, and Z did what Z does. She thankfully bailed us out, because we put ourselves in a pretty deep hole."
On what the team needs to do to move on for Sunday:
"Everyone talks about one game at a time, and that's true. Tonight had some disappointment despite the victory and those are mixed feelings. We're thrilled for our team pulling off the win and scoring three goals, but we were disappointed in the two we gave up. We'll turn our attention immediately to Sunday. Arizona is a scrappy team and really well coached. They've given us problems everytime we've played them, and we expect nothing different on Sunday afternoon in Tucson."
UP NEXT:
The Red Raiders will stay in the State of Arizona for a couple more days before Sunday's road tilt at UofA. First touch for the nationally-televised (ESPNU) match is set for 2 p.m (CT)/Noon (PT).
