A hard-fought night ended sour for San Diego State women’s soccer, which lost 2-1 in overtime against Arizona State on Friday, Aug. 25.
With the loss, the Aztecs dropped to 1-2 on the season, while the Sun Devils improved to 1-1.
SDSU head coach Mike Friesen said the Sun Devils provided several tests for his team throughout the game that caused a halftime adjustment to try to slow Arizona State’s momentum.
“(ASU) presented some challenges for us with their formation, their 4-4-2 diamond tight, in the first half,” head coach Mike Friesen told GoAztecs.com. “We struggled a little bit to play out of that and deal with some of their runners in behind. They were pretty direct and so we decided at halftime to make a quick change and I thought that tactical change really changed the momentum in the game.”
SDSU was in need of a game-tying goal after Arizona State’s Natalie Stephens gave ASU a 1-0 lead in the 42nd minute.
The Aztecs largely regulated the second half. Their continuous effort paid off in the 68th minute when senior forward Aliyah Utush found fellow senior forward Angela Mitchell, who recorded her first goal of the season and tied the game at 1-1.
Friesen said he thought the Aztecs improved their play in the second half, but made costly errors that gave ASU several chances to take advantage of.
“I thought we played really well in the second half, had a lot of the ball and created some good chances, but we just didn’t tuck anything away”, Friesen said. “Unfortunately, we left it to overtime and they had the quality at the end to get a goal. We just made a couple of mistakes that gave them the opportunity.”
Statistically, the teams were relatively even. After 99:52 of play, ASU held the advantage in shots 10-9. However, the teams were tied with four shots on goal each.
Looking to recover from the loss, Friesen said the team needs to look to their next game against Long Beach State on Sunday.
“Overall, I’m pleased with the game, but we have to regroup and get ready for Sunday,” Friesen said.
