Inexperience was costly for the San Diego State women’s soccer team (6-4-5, 2-2-3 Mountain West) in a 2-0 defeat against Utah State (6-5-5, 3-1-3 MW) on Sunday.
The loss marks the Aztecs’ second consecutive defeat, following a gut-wrenching loss to Boise State on Thursday, Oct. 16. Opposite to the last-minute loss against Boise State, the Aggies put the ball in the San Diego State net early in the match.
In just the second minute, Utah State midfielder Kaylie Chambers headed the ball past SDSU goalkeeper Kailey Carlin to give the Aggies a lead that held for the rest of the game.
Despite the Aztecs’ recent blunders in opening and closing games, head coach Mike Friesen did not express much concern. Rather, he cited the club’s inexperience and how the untimely goals serve as learning moments for his young squad.
“Well, we’re young,” Friesen said. “We have 11 freshmen, seven sophomores. We gotta learn how to win games in critical moments. And, I mean, quite honestly, I thought we were the better team throughout the game, but some of the small details, and part of it’s just unfortunate, right?”
Friesen wasn’t lying when he said the Aztecs were the better team throughout the game. The remainder of the first half was controlled by SDSU, with the majority of the time being spent on the Aggies’ side of the pitch.
The only shots on target in the remainder of the half came from the Aztecs. Forward Alexys Ocampo and midfielder Katie Senn booted balls to the net, but were eventually denied by the Utah State keeper.
“I thought we were very good the rest of the half,” Friesen said. “ I thought we were in control of the game, but we don’t finish our chances… the quality’s not there.”
The lack of finishing on the offensive end translated into the second half, where the Aztecs continued to push to even the score. Despite five corner kicks in the half and six in the game, the chances did not lead to results for the Scarlet and Black.
The opportunities were there for the Aztecs to bury their first goal, but they just didn’t have the extra touch it took to finish the job.
“We’re making good decisions to put ourselves in scoring chances, and then we’re just not having the quality to finish those chances,” Friesen said. “That’s part of being a young team, which is why every college team in every sport wins when you’re old.”
Defensively, the Aztecs stood strong for most of the game. An onslaught of Utah State pressure to begin the second half was halted by Carlin’s first save of the match.
However, they could only go so long before breaking.
While SDSU was making its last-ditch effort to equalize in the 88th minute, a goal kick from Carlin ended up in possession of the Aggies, who brought the ball down and buried another goal past Carlin to seal the match.
At that point, the writing was on the wall for the Aztecs, who suffered a rare home-field loss for the second straight game. Prior to the Boise State game, the club was 3-1-3 on home turf, but have fallen to 3-3-3 at the Mesa since. Before their two most recent home defeats, the Aztecs had not lost a regular season conference match since Oct. 16, 2022.
Despite the loss, there are still positive takeaways for SDSU going forward.
“I thought we were in control of the ball quite a bit, especially in the first half,” Friesen said. “I think those things are good, that we’re showing up in those spots and creating opportunities in the final third, but we’ve got to get better at that last pass, that last finish.”
The Aztecs will travel to a high altitude on Thursday at 3 p.m. against Colorado State for their final road game of the season. Fans can catch the action on Mountain West Network.
