For the final 75 minutes on Sunday afternoon, the San Diego State men’s soccer team kept up with and, at times, even played better than No. 1 University of Washington.
But SDSU was undone in the first 15 minutes thanks to tentative defending, which allowed Washington to score twice en route to a 3-2 win against the Aztecs.
“We weren’t confident enough, we let them play and we didn’t believe in ourselves,” sophomore midfielder Travis Nicklaw said after the game.
Husky junior midfielder Ian Lange opened the scoring off a corner kick, hitting a glancing header to the back post and past SDSU redshirt freshman keeper Adam Allmaras for a 1-0 lead.
A good play by Washington opened up some space on its right flank, allowing freshman defender and San Diego native Justin Fiddes to make it 2-0 with a blistering shot into the top corner from 12 yards out that was worthy of a spot on SportsCenter’s Top 10.
The Huskies were a few inches from completely putting this game to bed when they were awarded a penalty kick.
But Washington senior forward Darwin Jones, the team’s leading scorer, blasted the penalty off the post and Allmaras saved the rebound.
The miss gave the Aztecs the life they needed, and they soon cut the deficit to 2-1. Freshman midfielder Ozzie Ramos found junior forward Rene Reyes on the left side, before Reyes cut in and delivered a sublime curling shot that bent its way into the top corner for his first goal as an Aztec.
“What a wonder goal that he scored, and that gets you back in the match,” said head coach Lev Kirshner.
Ramos had two more long-distance chances in the second half that went wide.
As a team, the Aztecs outshot the Huskies in the second half, but Washington made its limited shots count as it took a 3-1 lead. Sophomore defender Justin Schmidt’s free kick somehow snuck through defenders and attackers and ended up in the back of the net.
SDSU struggled to take advantage of some good opportunities later on. Freshman forward David Olsen did well to make some space for himself, but blasted his shot way over the mark.
Reyes also had a good long-range chance off a counterattack, but he too sent his shot into the stratosphere.
The Aztecs were eventually rewarded for their persistence. Nicklaw, starting as a defender, sweetly struck a free kick from 18 yards out for his first career goal to cut the deficit to 3-2, but it wasn’t enough.
Kirshner believes the team is good enough to compete with the best, but there’s still work to be done.
“We’ve gotta find a way to not bleed that goal while we’re sitting in this frantic, hectic fearful attitude,” he said.
The Aztecs fall to 7-7, 1-4 in the conference. They hit the road to play at Oregon State University on Thursday with a rematch against Washington the following Sunday.
