By Brian MontgomeryStaff Writer
When conference play rolls around, attitudes change and the gamesbecome more important. For San Diego State, this is the situation itfinds itself in. Every game from here is a must-win if SDSU is goingto find itself in the NCAA tournament.
On the day when the SDSU Sports Deck was being officiallydedicated, the Aztecs were dedicating themselves, taking a positivefirst step by defeating Air Force 1-0 on Friday.
“It was a huge game for us,” Young said. “Conference play is keyand our team stepped up to the challenge.”
The match was decided midway through the first half when SDSUforward Kim Castellanos entered the contest. She sent a pass acrossthe front of the goal to fellow forward Nicole Findlay, who, aftersome clever ball-handling, promptly ripped a shot into the upper leftcorner for the game’s only score.
“Kim crossed the ball to me,” Findlay said. “The pass landed on myright foot, and because I’m left-footed, I pulled the ball around theback of me and struck it with my left and it went in.”
The Aztecs (4-9 overall, 1-0 Mountain West Conference) appliedpressure on the Falcons (2-10-1, 0-1 MWC) from the start with sevenshots on goal in the first half. Despite the pressure, SDSU was onlyable to muster one goal against Air Force goalkeeper Kristy Kuhlman,who made numerous quality saves and single-handedly kept her team inthe game.
But this game belonged to the Aztecs. The defense shut down thepotent Falcons attack, which entered the match second in theconference with 26 goals (including a 14-goal effort). The first halfof the game was played almost entirely on the Falcons side of thefield.
Sweeper Shawni Flint said the reason why they dominated was thateveryone on the team was focused on winning.
“We had the heart today,” she said. “Defensively, we communicatedmuch better. We knew we could put games like this together and wefinally did it today.”
SDSU goalkeeper Linnea Quinones was rarely tested. Quinones madethree saves and tallied her first shutout of the season. She said thewin was huge and was a good way to start off conference play.
“When conference play starts, it’s like starting a new season,”she said. “We came in with winning in mind and we won. We were ableto stay organized defensively and whenever they got on a break, oneof our players was there to stop them. Offensively, we didn’t givethe ball away and kept the pressure on. We’re on our way.”
