San Diego State men’s soccer closed out its nonconference season with a 1-0 win over Cal State Fullerton on Sept. 27. Senior goalkeeper Eddy Vargas made a career-high of 11 saves and earned honorable mention for WAC Goalkeeper of the Week on Sept. 30 following his performance against the Titans. 

While Vargas earned the honor, he credited his teammates for the accomplishment.

“Celebrated for a bit, I had 11 saves, but the team also had 20 blocked shots in front of me,” Vargas said. “So that clean sheet was also attributed to them. They were working hard, blocking shots, putting their bodies on the line, too. So it was kind of a full team celebration, because we put in the work as a unit and got the result.” 

Assistant coach David Diaz, who works closely with the goalkeepers, spoke about Vargas’ accomplishment. 

“I was very happy for Eddy. It’s well deserved,” Diaz said. “He works hard every week, challenges himself every week, and I think it’s really nice to see the results of his hard work and getting rewarded for having a big-time performance.”

Before the match against Fullerton, Vargas sat out two consecutive games, allowing junior goalkeeper Vincent Fournier to start against Yale and Oregon State.

“We were going through a patch,” Vargas said. “It was one of those things where I just kind of had to look in the mirror a little bit and fix some things, adjust some things, work a little bit harder, look at certain movements, and just kind of ‘how can I be better for the team? and what I can do to help the team be better?’”

The SDSU men’s soccer team has four goalkeepers, including Vargas. Diaz discussed how the coaching staff determines the rotation for upcoming games. 

“There’s always tough decisions. We want to try to find the goalkeeper that’s in the best form at the moment,” Diaz said. “I really credit Eddy for going through some adversity, going through a little dip in form and being able to recover, get back in the training sessions, work his socks off and get himself back into the starting position, well deserved for him.”

This is Vargas’ first honor as an Aztec, as he joined the soccer team last season after transferring from the University of Vermont. After recording a career-high of 11 saves and earning a shutout, he spoke about what was going through his mind against the Titans. 

“I mean, that’s the thing, is you get into like that stage, kind of like flow state, you’re not really thinking, you’re just doing,” Vargas said. “There’s not much that’s going on in my head during the game, especially a time like that where you’re making a lot of saves and you’re having to be called upon, it’s kind of just doing.”

Vargas was limited last season, only playing five games due to injury, with four of those games as a starter. Diaz mentioned how Vargas has been able to overcome obstacles throughout his collegiate career. 

“He’s really shown an ability to fight through adversity and be resilient,” Diaz said. “Last season, he had an orbital fracture, so he suffered a season-ending injury right when he had taken the starting spot. So to go through that sort of adversity, be able to bounce back and have the season that he’s having now is a testament to his grit, his willpower to sort of continue to push himself, no matter the circumstances.”

Vargas continues to show determination and willpower in his return to the field. 

“He’s always in the training room. He’s always taking care of his body. He’s a guy that’s very self-motivated,” Diaz said. “So I think my job when it comes to Eddy is not really to provide the motivation, but to just keep his confidence up, to give him a little insight here and there, because for the most part, he knows what needs to be done. He knows how to execute.”