San Diego State women’s soccer defeated University of California, Riverside, 4-0 on Sunday night at the SDSU Sports Deck.
From the start of the match, both teams played aggressively. The Aztecs created an early chance with a couple of shot attempts.
At the six-minute mark, the Aztecs (3-2-1) had an opportunity to score when sophomore midfielder Alexyz Nakamoto kicked the ball towards the net and redshirt freshman forward Alexis Leath tried to hit a header but missed.
The Highlanders (0-6-10) were coming in for the Aztecs, sliding to get the ball out of the Aztecs’ possession.
At the 21st minute mark, sophomore forward Victoria Miller scored the first goal of the night for the Aztecs with an assist by junior forward Alexys Ocampo. Ocampo missed last season after suffering an injury at the start of the 2024 season.
“She hasn’t been on the field for a couple of years and so she’s just working her way through that,” head coach Mike Friesen said about Ocampo’s return. “But the last couple of games, she’s been great. It’s phenomenal.”
Five minutes later, the Aztecs earned a corner kick taken by junior midfielder Katie Senn. Once the shot was kicked, sophomore midfielder Charlie Gerson scored the ball into the net. This was Gerson’s first goal of the season as an Aztec.
With the lead at halftime, Friesen shared what he talked to his team about in the locker room.
“I think when we talk about halftime, it’s like, we don’t need to win the game every time we touch the ball, right?” Friesen said. “So what’s happening is we’re getting half to midfield, and we’re like, ‘oh, we can get a goal now. Now, the game’s getting stretched, and that’s opening a counterattack. So we just wanted to make sure we closed the line a little bit, played through it.”
Starting the second half, the Highlanders attempted to put a point up on the board when senior midfielder Spenser Gonzales kicked a long shot. But it was saved by the Aztecs’ freshman goalkeeper Kailey Carlen.
Leath had two opportunities to score, one was at the 55th minute mark, but the Highlander’s goalkeeper, Trinity Hale, stopped the shot. At the 58th minute mark, Leath had another chance but missed to the right side of the goal.
There wasn’t any action until the 73rd minute mark, when sophomore defender Lily Boudet scored after being open in the middle and aiming for the net, which marked Boudet’s first career goal.
At the 78th minute mark, Senn scored the last goal for the Aztecs, making it her second goal as an Aztec. Within that goal, Boudet received her first assist.
“This is only my second goal ever in playing college soccer, so it’s always a good feeling just to know that all my work that I’ve been putting in has been paying off,” Senn said. “I couldn’t do it without my team; they pushed me every single day and put me in good positions to get those opportunities.
By the end of the night, the Aztecs attempted 18 shots, nine on goal, while the Highlanders had attempted six shots, two on goal. The Aztecs also controlled 62% of possession compared with 38% for the Highlanders.
“Honestly, we did really well just playing our game and not letting the game get chaotic, because that’s the other team’s like way of trying to disorganize us,” Senn said. “So we were calm on the ball, just played the way we face, and just did our thing like we are always successful getting opportunities in front of the goal.”
Friesen talked about this year’s team and how the season has started for them.
“This is a great group of kids, but they’re just fun to be around, they’re coachable, they’re just soaking everything in,” Friesen said. “It’s been a really positive start to the season. Excited about this season and what’s coming in the future because we’re really young but also really good.
The Scarlet and Black will play against the Nevada Wolfpack at 7 p.m. Thursday at the SDSU Sports Deck.
