The San Diego State women’s soccer team hosted the University of Nevada, Reno on Thursday, Sept. 26 at the SDSU Sports Deck. The Aztecs (3-5-1, 1-0 MW) opened the Mountain West Conference with a win 5-0 against the Wolfpack (2-8, 0-1 MW.)
Straight away into the first half of the match, senior midfielder Denise Castro scored a goal at the 10-minute mark with assists from senior forward Emma Gaines-Ramos and senior midfielder Olivia Sekimoto.
The rest of the first half was quiet. Both teams attempted multiple shots, and senior goalkeeper, Alexa Madueño, was blocking shots, earning her a shutout.
By the second half, it was all in favor of the Aztecs as they scored four more times. Castro scored her second goal of the night with an assist by junior forward Logan Nidy at the 50-minute mark.
The next goal was 20 minutes after Castro’s goal, which was scored by senior defender Trinity Coker at the 70-minute mark.
Freshman forward Mia Lane scored her first career goal as an Aztec at the 82-minute mark. The last goal was made at the 87-minute mark by sophomore midfielder Boston Girman, who also had her first career goal with an assist by Lane.
Head coach Mike Friesen spoke about the team’s contributions to the win.
“Love to score, you know Denise Castro who scores a lot of goals for us, that’s really good for us,” Friesen said. “We had a lot of first-time goals for us, Mia Lane, Boston Girman, we had some really good performances off the bench. Riley Gumm and Charlie Gerson were fantastic. Just having a lot of contributions overall is what makes me happy.”
In total, the Aztecs earned 23 shots and six saves while the Wolfpack had 14 shots and seven saves. Despite the win, the Aztecs had a total of 14 fouls with a yellow card given to Gaines-Ramos while the Wolfpack only had seven fouls.
As Castro scored two goals, she talked about her notable performance.
“The time that I played, whatever minute I got, as a player I’m always gonna believe I could do a lot more than I can,” Castro said. “Honestly, I’m very grateful that when my teammates went in, they performed the way they needed to, made us feel like each teammate is very valuable whenever (and) whoever gets to play.”
With conference play starting, Friesen talked about the challenges that the team will be facing after a historic season last year.
“One thing that’s a challenge for us is the pressure of ‘we are the champions’ and I think that’s always a target on our back,” Friesen said. “It’s good to get a good start and get a little momentum.”
The scarlet and black will be back home on Sunday, Sept. 29 where they will face off against the University of Nevada, Las Vegas for their second conference game at the SDSU Sports Deck at noon.
“We’re gonna celebrate and then starting tomorrow do the stuff that we always have to do,” Castro said. “Come to practice (with) the right mind and do everything that we can for the (next) game.”
