San Diego State men’s soccer lost its conference home opener 1-0 against Grand Canyon University on Oct. 9 at the SDSU Sports Deck. This game marked the Aztecs’ first loss in conference play, tying them with San Jose State for fourth place in the Western Athletic Conference standings at 1-1.
Right from the start, GCU (8-2-1, 2-0 WAC) scored, just 1 minute and 26 seconds into the match. The goal was scored by freshman forward Junior Diouf with the assist from freshman forward Max Kiefer and graduate forward Ben Assane.
“You leave the nation’s third leading goal scorer wide open in the box that’s probably not a great way to defend,” said SDSU head coach Ryan Hopkins. “So we deserve what we got from defending that way.”
After that, the Aztecs (5-7, 1-1 WAC) and the Lopes continued to battle for another goal in the game.
The closest goal for the Aztecs came in the 44th minute when freshman defender Charles Volcy committed a foul, awarding the Aztecs a penalty kick. Sophomore forward Juan Zepeda took the free kick, but it was blocked by the Lopes graduate goalkeeper Daniel Ibarra.
The first half was the strongest for the Aztecs as they outshot the Lopes 10-2 but were unable to convert a goal.
Hopkins discussed what he told the team at halftime about making adjustments for the second half, but things didn’t go in their favor.
“Obviously, not much, because we were horrendous in the second half,” Hopkins said. “So I don’t know how much was really taken in and that’s been a problem all year, too, for this group.”
The Lopes had several opportunities to score, but during one specific play in the 50th minute mark, Zepeda blocked a shot from inside the goal box when GCU had a corner kick. The play went to video review, but the referees ruled it was not a goal.
“[I was] definitely worried, we didn’t know if it was in or not, completely,” senior defender Tristan Viviani said, reflecting on the play. “Very excited for Juan’s effort, we love to see that from him, especially [since] he’s running around from the center back to center back all night long and he’s still making defensive plays in front of the goal.”
By the end of the night, the Aztecs committed 11 shots with two being on goal, while the Lopes committed 8 with three being on goal.
The Aztecs committed 20 fouls and received two yellow cards, issued to senior midfielder Josh Lucas and senior defender Baptiste Boit. GCU committed 11 fouls and received three yellow cards, given to freshman midfielder Diego Sanchez, freshman forward Kiefer and junior midfielder Allan Rosales.
Aztecs senior goalkeeper Eddy Vargas recorded two saves, matching Ibarra’s total.
In addition, the Aztecs did not maintain the majority of the possession, holding just 44% compared to the Lopes’ 56%.
The Aztecs will play on Sunday, Oct. 12, at the SDSU Sports Deck when they face UNLV at 7 p.m.
“Hopefully we’ll work a lot on set pieces and figure out how to understand what’s happening in a soccer game and adjust,” Hopkins said.
