The San Diego State women’s soccer team (4-5-1, 2-0 MW) played their second conference match against the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (3-6-1, 1-1 MW) on Sunday, Sept. 29 at the SDSU Sports Deck with a final score of 2-0.
During the first half of the match, both teams couldn’t execute the net, and head coach Mike Friesen mentioned his team’s performance in the first half.
“We were not as energetic and gritty in the first half as I wanted us to be,” Friesen said. “That’s something we have to change.”
Both teams battled on the field to score a goal as they were attempting multiple shots. By the end of the first half, the Aztecs attempted 11 shots while the Rebels had eight. Senior goalkeeper, Alexa Madueño, had three saves while the Rebels junior goalkeeper, Hanne Breur, had six.
During halftime, Friesen had a talk with his team about what the team wasn’t doing to execute.
“I was very firm at halftime, and I showed them one clip where we’re just not sprinting when we have quality chances,” Friesen said. “I challenged them (and) told them ‘What team do you want to be? Do you want to be a team that looks back in November on missed chances and missed opportunities because we didn’t give everything? Or do you want to be a team that goes and performs and earns victories every week?’”
The second half was quiet. The Rebels scored a goal in the 59-minute mark, but the referees called offsides and the match remained 0-0.
It wasn’t until the 80-minute mark when senior defender Trinity Coker scored the first goal for the Aztecs with an assist by senior forward Emma Gaines-Ramos to take a 1-0 lead.
“It felt good, it took me a minute to get there, and I feel like it changed the game,” Coker said.
Six minutes later, senior midfielder Denise Castro scored the last goal for the Aztecs with an assist by Gaines-Ramos at the 86-minute mark.
By the end of the match, SDSU had a total of 24 shots while the Rebels had 14. Madueño had a total of six saves earning a shutout.
Each team had 10 fouls with the Rebels earning a yellow card towards junior defender Gianna Newby.
Coker talked about what helped when facing the Rebels.
“An advantage was it’s our home field, and we set the goal to not lose a single game at our home field,” Coker said.
Friesen emphasized what the team did well after the second half.
“We came out in the second half, and I thought we did a really good job of creating quality chances, defending and really going for it,” Friesen said.
The scarlet and black will be traveling for the next four games as they first take on Utah State on Thursday, Oct. 3 at 4 p.m.
“It’s a really difficult place to play,” Friesen said. “(Utah’s) altitude, the grass is longer so our passing is more difficult there. We’re gonna have to be really disciplined and focused.”
