The San Diego State women’s soccer team (6-7-4, 4-2-3 MW) went on the road to a windy day game at Wyoming (4-6-7, 2-3-4 MW) at an elevation, ending in a 3-3 draw on Thursday, October 24th.
The Aztecs have struggled at elevation so far this season as they went 0-2-2 in a four-game away stretch against Utah State, Boise State, Colorado College and Air Force. While their match against Wyoming ended in a tie, the Aztecs came back from behind trailing 1-3 in the second half.
It was a defensive battle early on in the game until Wyoming struck first 21 minutes into the game as Alyssa Bedard capitalized on a one-on-one opportunity with the goalkeeper off of a deep cross-field assist from Lily Brongo giving Wyoming the 1-0 lead. Wyoming had a chance to extend the lead at the 27-minute mark but Aztec goalkeeper Alexa Madueno made a tremendous save to keep the deficit at one.
At the 33-minute mark, the Aztecs responded with a goal of their own as Logan Nidy sneaked one by the goalkeeper off of a long pass and assist from Trinity Coker to tie that game at 1-1. SDSU had two more shot opportunities in the half by Kali Trevithick and Olivia Sekimoto but were saved by Wyoming goalkeeper Haley Bartel.
Both teams traded a few shots in the second half until Bedard’s flip throw-in and Maddie Chance’s deflection assisted Reagan Richardson for a goal where she was wide open due to confusion in the backend. This shot made it a 2-1 game at the 54-minute mark.
The Aztecs had a golden opportunity to tie the game four minutes later as Trevithick was awarded a penalty kick that was kicked down the middle and saved by Bartel’s legs as she was going to her left. Bartel gave the Aztecs problems all game as she had seven saves. Going into this game, she was the Mountain West leader in shutouts with seven.
Wyoming later scored at the 61-minute mark during a free kick when Richardson scored her second goal, this time off of a header, assisted by Bedard extending their lead to 3-1.
SDSU’s chances at coming back looked slim until Trinity Coker scored her third goal of the season off a miraculous free kick that got just past Bartel and into the back of the net, cutting the deficit to one.
The Aztecs started gaining momentum off multiple shot attempts until they were finally able to capitalize off of a header by Denise Castro that was beautifully set up by a Coker cross pass tying the game at three with less than four minutes to play. The critical goal was Castro’s ninth of the season which leads the team.
SDSU had two corner kick opportunities in the last minute but couldn’t take the lead in such a short amount of time leading to a 3-3 final score.
The game ended as an offensive battle with SDSU attempting 16 shots to Wyoming’s 17. The Aztecs ended up with 10 shots on goal putting pressure on Bartel and Wyoming’s defense to keep them out of the box which worked in the Aztecs’ favor.
The Aztecs sit in fifth place in the Mountain West behind UNLV for the fourth and final spot to qualify for the conference tournament. SDSU will play at home against Colorado State and on the road against New Mexico for their final two regular-season games.
