Aztecs win their first home game of conference play against Air Force 1-0

Eckhardt scored the only goal and gave coach Mike Friesen his 100th Mountain West win

by Abigail Segoviano, Staff Writer • September 29, 2023

San Diego State celebrates with midfielder Alyza Eckhardt after her goal against Air Force on Thursday, Sept. 28 at the SDSU Sports Deck. The Aztecs beat the Falcons 1-0 on Eckhardt’s first goal of the season.

The San Diego State women’s soccer team hosted Air Force on Thursday night and came away with a hard-fought 1-0 win at the SDSU Sports Deck.

Midfielder Alyza Eckhardt scored the only goal of the match — her first of the season —at the 21-minute mark for SDSU (7-2-2, 2-0-1 MW) with an assist from midfielder Carlin Blake.

Air Force (4-5-1, 1-1-1 MW) dominated the Aztecs offensively and defensively in the first 20 minutes before Eckhardt scored the goal. Head coach Mike Friesen said the team was more relieved once the goal went in.

“It took us a little bit of time to adjust to how to deal with some of the midfield issues that they present,” Friesen said. “The goal certainly helped us, whenever you can play in front it just gives confidence to the team and gives us a little more opportunities to put the ball on the ground, play and not be reactive so much.”

The win improved SDSU’s all-time record against Air Force to 24-1-1. The Aztecs are currently tied with Boise State for first place in the Mountain West through three matches.

“We didn’t give up, we all stuck together, we were all defending well together as a team,” Eckhardt said. “It felt like a championship game, which is crazy because we’re all just nervous and we want to win, but also very exciting at the same time.”

Friesen earned his 100th career Mountain West Conference win in the match — becoming the first Mountain West women’s soccer head coach to do so. He gave the credit to the student-athletes he has coached over the years.

“Thinking about all of the players, not just this group right here… but also just the relationships from this group and (with) all of our alumni, it just brings back a lot of memories of all those players that have come through here and played,” Friesen said.

The Aztecs had opened the Mountain West Conference season on a two-match road trip, winning 5-1 at Fresno State on Sept. 21. The five goals were scored by Denise Castro, Emma Gaines-Ramos, Jenna West and Kali Trevithick, who scored two.

On Sept. 24, the Aztecs got a 74th minute goal to come away with a 2-2 tie against San José State. The SDSU goals in the match came from Castro and Gaines-Ramos.

SDSU will be hosting three home matches over the next week. Eckhardt and the Aztecs are ready and very confident coming into the rest of the Mountain West Conference.

“We feel very confident going into the next home games,” Eckhardt said. “Our team is very experienced and we’re all ready to carry this on throughout the season.”

The women’s soccer team’s next conference home match is against Colorado College at noon on Sunday, Oct. 1 at the SDSU Sports Deck.

About the Contributors

Abigail Segoviano, Staff Writer

Originally from Richmond, California, Abigail Segoviano is a second-year student, majoring in Journalism with a minor in Spanish. This is Abigail’s second year at the Daily Aztec where she got the opportunity to expand her writing skills as a journalist. As a staff writer last year she had the opportunity to mainly cover the entire season of women’s volleyball and also covered a couple of games for women’s basketball. This year her main focus is to branch out and write for different sports. Additionally to get involved in other sections such as Multimedia and Mundo Azteca. Abigail is the Vice President of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists (SDSU Chapter). Abigail received an award from The Daily Aztec: “Consistent Contributor.” In her free time, she enjoys reading, watching sports, listening to music, and going on adventures with friends.

Olivia Vargo, Staff Writer

Olivia Vargo (she/her/hers) is a first-year Television, Film, and New Media production major from Camas, WA. She loves photography and is excited to see what her future at SDSU holds. She was the team photographer for her local equestrian team all four years of high school and the photographer/student manager for her school’s varsity baseball team in the spring of her senior year. She loves music, art, animals, baseball (specifically the Dodgers), and California’s sunny weather. As a first-year Olivia hopes to gain lots of experiences with the Daily Aztec and explore what they have to offer.