San Diego State’s men’s soccer team is slowly making strides to becoming a good team. On Friday they’ll get a stern test when they host the No. 25 Clemson Tigers at 7 p.m. at the SDSU Sports Deck.
Two days later they’ll host the No. 19-ranked University of Denver Pioneers.
Here’s a peek at some storylines for this weekend:
AZTECPLAYERS TO WATCH: If sophomore Forrayah Bass plays on Friday, look out for him. On Sunday, he created problems for University at Buffalo before scoring the only goal.
Sophomore midfielders Casey Macias and Alec Petit were both thorns in Buffalo’s side on Sunday. They’re fast, hard to evade and their work-rate is outstanding.
Redshirt-freshman goalkeeper Adam Allmaras has been solid, conceding one goal in 180 minutes played. He’s protected by senior defenders Evyn Hewett and Wil Cannon, both of whom are tough on the back line.
If injured midfielder Pablo Vasquez plays, he’ll be vital for SDSU. The transfer from San Jacinto College scored 19 goals and 22 assists in two years there, and garnered a Junior-College All-American award.
CLEMSON PLAYERS TO WATCH: Senior midfielder Ara Amirkhanian scored six times last year with three assists. He leads a Clemson squad looking to improve from last year’s first-round exit in the NCAA Championship. Junior forward T.J. Casner bagged three goals on just seven shots on goal, and had two assists.
DENVER RIDING MILE-HIGH: The Pioneers have lost twice in the past 18 games going back to last year. That includes two wins against top-25 teams this year: California State University, Northridge and United States Naval Academy.
They return seven starters from a team that lost in the first round of the NCAA Championships last year, but they have the job of replacing two of their top three most productive players.
The Pioneers beat the Aztecs 2-1 last year, and have won five of the eight all-time meetings.
TITLE GAME REMATCH: Friday’s game is a rematch of the 1987 NCAA Championship Game, which Clemson won 2-0. In their only other meeting in 2012, SDSU defeated the Tigers on the road, 1-0.
TIGERS DEFENSE PERFECT: Clemson has started great, winning both exhibition games and its season-opener without conceding a goal. And that’s all with just two listed defenders: junior Kyle Fisher and senior Phanuel Kavita.
AZTECS RETURNING FROM INJURY: Head coach Lev Kirshner has been dealing with some injuries to his squad. Vasquez missed Sunday’s win over Buffalo and fellow sophomore Bass is also returning to full health, despite playing 50 minutes and scoring the lone goal on Sunday.
CLEMSON PREDICTION: The Aztecs are a very talented team that hasn’t had a lot of playing time together. Clemson is also very talented, but with the benefit of more team chemistry.
Despite that, SDSU is trying to break the all-time attendance record of 2,212 on Friday. If the Aztecs get a large, loud crowd on a Friday night under the lights, they’ll step into the spotlight and perform.
SDSU will win in a gritty, hard-fought fashion.
SDSU: 2
CLEMSON: 1
DENVER PREDICTION: Denver will provide another good test to see where SDSU stands. Unfortunately, the Pioneers are too solid and too experienced for the upstart Aztecs to deal with.
Denver returns most of its starters in the midfield and will be able to control the game better. Sophomore forward Eric Kronenberg is deadly efficient in front of the goal with five career goals on just eight shots on goal.
SDSU: 1
DENVER: 3
