It was only fitting that an Aztec senior would score the crucial goal on senior night at the SDSU Sports Deck.
Senior forward Taylor Moorehead scored in the 87th minute to tie the game and helped the Aztecs (7-10-2, 5-4-2 Mountain West Conference) come back from a 2-0 halftime deficit for her last game on the Mesa. The draw against the conference-leading New Mexico Lobos (12-4-2, 7-2-2 MWC) helped the Aztecs earn the number three seed heading into the Mountain West Conference tournament.
“I thought we were really good today,” head coach Mike Friesen said. “I thought we were the better team on the day and deserved at least a draw, if not a win…but really proud of the response at halftime to come back and tie it up and just the resiliency that we’ve been missing a little bit of throughout the year.”
The Lobos opened up the scoring in the 25th minute. Senior forward Jadyn Edwards collected the ball in the midfield and ran at the Aztec defenders before she slipped the ball to sophomore midfielder Brynn Boeynik making a run on the right side. Boeynik took a touch before firing a shot to the far post, past the outstretched hands of Aztec sophomore keeper Cameron Illingworth and inside the post.
New Mexico’s Edwards got her conference-leading 10th goal of the season from the penalty spot for the Lobo’s second goal of the game. The penalty was awarded controversially after freshman forward Zaria Katesigwa was deemed to be pulled down in the box attempting to control the ball off a cross.
The Aztecs got their first goal of the game in the 53rd minute. Senior forward Anna Toohey played a long ball up and over the Lobos defenders and into the stride of sophomore forward Emma Gaines-Ramos. After taking a touch to set herself up, Ramos calmly chipped the ball past the New Mexico keeper and into the back of the net to bring the Aztecs within one.
SDSU continued to create chances to tie the game and finally got their equalizer in the 87th minute when Moorehead connected on a ball that had been bouncing around in the Lobos penalty area off an ensuing corner kick.
“I saw my teammate, Jesse Sanders, the ball was bouncing, I was right next to her,” Moorehead said. “Then I saw it pop up and I thought she was going to get it and then I saw an opening and swung as hard as I could. It bounced off a player then through their legs, off another player, then it went in. They tried to kick it out but I saw it had crossed the line. I saw that it was a goal and celebrated immediately.”
The Aztecs were the more dangerous team during regulation and that continued into the overtime period. SDSU outshot New Mexico 21-17 for the game and had more clear goal-scoring opportunities. The finishing touch evaded them in the first half where they could have had multiple goals.
“I thought we should have scored three or four goals that were clear cut chances we missed early,” Friesen said.
The clearest chance of the two overtime periods came in the 103rd minute when New Mexico freshman Zaria Katesigwa found herself one on one with Illingworth with a chance to win the game. Illingworth fearlessly came charging out of her goal to meet Katesigwa and got her body in front of the ball to keep the shot out of the Aztec net and keep the score level.
The Aztecs travel to Boise, Idaho to participate in the Mountain West Conference tournament. They begin tournament play on Nov. 1 at 1 p.m. PT against the Boise State Broncos. Should they win, the Aztecs would move on to face Fresno State in a semifinal match on Thursday at 1 p.m. PT for a chance to play in the final on Saturday.
