Mike Friesen must be smiling.
Faced with the dilemma of three of his four starting defenders leaving after last year, the San Diego State women’s soccer head coach wondered how his team would defend this year.
Along came junior Meggie Gulczynski, a transfer from the University of San Diego who’s also a solid defender. On Sunday, she showed the crowd what a free kick should look like.
From 25 yards away, she rifled the ball into the top corner of the net, giving Gulczynski her first goal as an Aztec, leading to an SDSU upset then-No. 10-ranked University of Michigan by a 3-0 score.
For her performance—the goal and the Aztecs’ shutout—she bagged a Mountain West Defensive Player of the Week award. Cool, right?
So how did SDSU beat the No. 10 team in the country? Don’t they have three new defenders? Didn’t senior striker Hannah Keane limp off with an apparent knee injury?
How did they just simply sweep aside the Wolverines, whom the Aztecs lost to 3-1 in Ann Arbor, Michigan last year?
The dynamic freshmen duo of Aliyah Utush, and Angela Mitchell, accompanied by sophomore Morgan Darling, played a big role on Sunday.
As a fan said about Mitchell during the Aztecs’ 2-0 win against UC Davis: “She’s fast.”
Yes, she is.
From the moment Mitchell stepped on the field against the Wolverines the game changed. Michigan’s defense now had to try stopping the fastest player on the field from running right past everyone.
The Wolverines sure tried, and they sure failed. Mitchell’s efforts produced her third goal of the season, and the Mountain West Offensive Player of the Week award.
Utush was the only one of these three who started on Sunday, playing down the left side and also going forward at will. She ran at defenders, created shots for teammates and blistered shots at Michigan’s sophomore keeper Taylor Bucklin.
Then there was Darling, who did the same thing as Utush, only right down the middle in place of Keane.
It was Darling who won the free kick for Gulczynski, Darling who passed it either to Mitchell or Utush for a shot and Darling who almost scored herself.
A minute before halftime, Mitchell got the ball and attracted three defenders, which still wasn’t enough.
Her pass was deflected and the ball careened off two different heads before settling in the back of the net. The Aztecs had a 2-0 halftime lead.
With three minutes left in the game, junior midfielder Victoria Barba hit a corner kick that fell to freshman midfielder Xochi Hunter, whose shot deflected to Mitchell, who then slotted it in from five yards. Part of the freshman-trio struck again.
Game, set, match.
Hold on just a minute-three freshmen did most of this?
Yes, and they’re not going to sit back and let the game come to them—they’ll attack opponents and hit them hard.
The talented freshman group will have two big chances to showcase its talent again when SDSU travels to Portland, Oregon to play against the University of Portland Pilots and against the University of Washington.
Last year, Portland was ranked in the top 15 when it beat the Aztecs 2-1. SDSU’s record against the Pilots is a dreadful 2-8, and it’s an even worse 1-6-1 against Washington. If the Aztecs can win these games, they might open even more eyes.
For now, Friesen can be happy with his trio of eager freshmen, who just made the No. 10 team in the land look not-so-top-10 anymore.
