The San Diego State women’s soccer team was shut out by Santa Clara, allowing five unanswered goals in spite of a dominating second half.

SDSU (5-5-3) traveled to Northern California this past Sunday where it suffered a difficult 5-0 loss to No. 16 Santa Clara (7-1-4), a team it has never beaten.

It only took seven minutes for the Aztecs to fall behind in the first half as a Broncos’ forward headed the ball into the back of the net.

Within minutes, a second goal was added, extending Santa Clara’s lead to 2-0. In the 18th minute of match play, a third goal was scored after freshman goalkeeper Rachel Boaz made a save but was unable to securely hold onto the ball.

The play resulted in a collision, which prevented Boaz from playing the rest of the game.

From that point on, SDSU was unable to generate the offense it needed and was outshot 13-3 by the end of the first half. At halftime, the score was 3-0.

“Unfortunately, we didn’t start the game off well with some early goals,” head coach Mike Friesen said.

Within minutes of the second half commencing, something snapped for the Aztecs and they instantly took control of the final third with two near-goal opportunities by redshirt senior midfielder Cat Walker and sophomore forward Jensen Skinner.

“Cat Walker was dangerous. The other team had to foul her so she wouldn’t score,” Friesen said.

SDSU continued to dominate the Broncos’ half of the field and did a much better job at slowing down Santa Clara’s pace on the ball.

“The second half was more of an even game,” Friesen said.

Despite allowing two back-to-back goals in the 63rd and 64th minute, the Aztecs outshot the Broncos 12-8 and earned seven more corner kicks in the second half.

“We had a tough first half but we came back for a better second half and are now looking at our next game against TCU,” Friesen said.

On Friday, SDSU played its first Mountain West Conference game against New Mexico, which resulted in a double-overtime, scoreless tie. The Aztecs did manage to edge out New Mexico in shots on goal 4-2.

“We came out really hard. It’s a bummer we couldn’t finish opportunities but all in all it’s a good start and we can only go up from here,” sophomore defender Kory Spotts said.