A light fog settled over the SDSU Sports Deck on Friday night, the scene of the regular season finale for San Diego State women’s soccer against University of New Mexico.
Foggier than the field was the Aztecs playoff hopes, with the team needing a victory to secure the final spot in the Mountain West Conference postseason tournament.
It was not meant to be.
SDSU (6-10-3, 4-4-3 MW) kept it close with a goal in the first half, but fell 3-1 against a high-powered Lobos side which finished with a 16-11 shot advantage.
With the loss SDSU finished eighth in the MWC standings, failing to reach the postseason.
“We didn’t give a performance that we needed to give to put ourselves in a position to be in the conference tournament,” head coach Mike Friesen said. “Honestly, we just weren’t good enough.”
The Aztecs began the day in sixth place in the MWC standings, the final spot eligible for next week’s playoff, which is set to be hosted by San Jose State.
Unfortunately for SDSU, a victory by Colorado College over Air Force earlier in the day meant the team needed a win to earn a playoff berth.
“We’ve certainly been pretty good at dealing with pressure over the years, but this group is young and inexperienced,” Friesen said. “I just don’t think they anticipate what that environment’s going to be like, and so we just didn’t have it.”
New Mexico (11-5-2, 7-2-2 MW) came in with their playoff spot secured, but was the early aggressors, taking the lead on a 13th minute goal by senior midfielder Jennifer Munoz, completing a stretch which saw the Lobos get off six straight shots to begin the contest.
SDSU was able to equalize with a goal from freshman forward Taylor Moorehead in the 26th minute, but New Mexico tacked on goals from freshman forward Jadyn Edwards (38th minute) and Munoz (53rd minute) to complete the scoring.
Moorehead said her goal gave the Aztecs a boost, but ultimately was not enough as they became worn down as the game went on.
“We just started breaking down little by little, and just not building up as fast as we should of been and as we could have been,” she said. “It just didn’t work out today for us.”
SDSU recognized senior midfielder Nikolina Musto and redshirt junior goaltender Kate Hart before the game, as part of Senior Night festivities.
Musto played 73 minutes, and said being honored before her final collegiate game was special.
“It was really awesome to be honored by these girls and to hear what they had to say about me as a person,” Musto said. “It was a really awesome night.”
