The San Diego State men’s soccer team (3-3-2) played their annual Snapdragon Stadium match against the University of California, Davis (4-2-2) on Saturday, Sept. 21 with the game concluding in a tie, 3-3.
The Aztecs started right off the bat as junior forward Austin Brummett scored the first goal 17 seconds into the match, giving an assist to senior forward Robbie Matei and senior midfielder Daniel Pacella.
Head coach Ryan Hopkins mentioned what he thought of the goal.
“We’ve been talking about fast starts, and we got off to a slow start at Oregon State,” Hopkins said. “(Robbie) made a really savvy play and beat his man. Sometimes those can hurt you a little bit if you score that quickly because the games are just kind of (odd.)”
The Aggies responded back at the 29-minute mark when senior forward Keegan Walwyn-Bent scored the first goal for the Aggies, giving an assist to junior midfielder Lucas Fernandez-Kim and tying the game 1-1.
In the final minute of the first half, senior forward Terence Okoeguale scored the second goal for the Aztecs, which gave an assist to senior forward Ferran Florencio Catalá and sophomore defender Ulises Esquivel.
17 seconds later, sophomore midfielder Declan Horio scored the second goal for the Aggies to tie the game 2-2.
Hopkins spoke to the team during halftime regarding which areas they could improve on and what the Aggies have been doing differently compared to when the team did the scouting report on them.
Matei scored the last goal for the Aztecs at the 54-minute mark, earning Okoeguale an assist.
Even though the Aztecs were ahead 3-2, the Aggies continued to fight as Walwyn-Bent scored the last goal of the night, tying the Aztecs 3-3.
Senior goalkeeper Djibril Doumbia had a season-high of six saves. Hopkins spoke about Doumbia’s performance against the Aggies.
“When he needed to make some key saves, I thought he was there,” Hopkins said. “I thought he was really sharp coming out, collecting, punching, things of that nature, and I thought that was the best part of this game tonight.”
Okoeguale mentioned the advantages and disadvantages of the match.
“We had the lead three times (but) they showed that they had the advantage of coming back,” Okoeguale said.
The men’s soccer team only plays at Snapdragon Stadium once a year and this year they set a new attendance record with a total of 3,802 fans. Okoeguale talked about how it felt for him to be able to play at Snapdragon.
“Very special, we all were very excited,” Okoeguale said. “We set a record today for people that attended again, it felt special to all of us.”
The Aggies outscored the Aztecs eight to 16. The Aztecs had a total of 13 fouls with senior defender André Puente and Esquivel earning yellow cards. The Aggies had 11 fouls with one yellow card given to junior midfielder Zack Lillington.
The Aztecs will have four away games in the next two weeks. Their first stop is against the University of California, Irvine on Sept. 28 where the Aztecs will be playing their last non-conference game of the season. Their next home game will be on Oct.17 when they face off against Seattle University at 4 p.m. at the SDSU Sports Deck.
“Stick to our principles,” Hopkins said. “Get in the film room, get in the weight room, get on the training field and continue to prepare ourselves the best way we know how.”
