San Diego State women’s soccer split two matches in Colorado this weekend.
The team fell 2-1 to Colorado College Friday night, but followed up the loss with a 4-0 win over Air Force on Sunday.
The Aztecs moved to 7-7-2 overall and 4-2-2 in Mountain West Conference play. The win left the Tigers 5-6-4 overall, while the Falcons fell to 7-4-3.
SDSU struggled to get in rhythm in the first half against the Tigers, falling behind in the first 10 minutes.
The first goal came when Colorado College freshman midfielder Lauren Milliet sent a shot rocketing from inside the box over SDSU’s goalkeeper, redshirt sophomore Gabby English.
SDSU freshman defender Jordan Girman and senior forward Angela Mitchell had a chance to tie the score in the first half, but a Girman shot hit the goalpost and Mitchell’s shot attempt hit the crossbar moments after.
SDSU head coach Mike Friesen said that the Aztecs’ slow start hurt their
“Giving up an early goal in the first half set the tone for the rest of our game,” Friesen said. “We created many chances to score but we couldn’t execute.”
The Tigers came out strong in the second half, after Milliet scored her second goal of the contest off of a through ball received a through ball from freshman defender Ali Basom.
The Aztecs caught a break when senior forward Dani DeRosa drew a penalty in the box and converted on the penalty kick. It was DeRosa’s first goal of the season, but was too little too late.
The tables turned for SDSU against Air Force, as the Aztecs extended their unbeaten streak against the Falcons to 17 matches.
The first goal for the Aztecs came when freshman forward Esther Arnarsdottir sent a pass to fellow freshman forward Chloe Frisch, who in the fifth minute landed a successful left-footed kick into the net to give the Aztecs a 1-0 lead.
Things progressed for the Aztecs when freshman forward Mia Root drove to the inline and assisted senior forward Aliyah Utush, who drilled a shot past junior goalkeeper Jennifer Hiddink in the 21st minute.
Air Force created opportunities to score, but failed to capitalize and went into halftime down 2-0.
In the second half the Aztecs scored an early goal when senior defender Hailey Balma successfully tapped her shot into the posts to give the Aztecs a 3-0 lead.
The final goal of the game came from SDSU freshman defender Phoebe Leitch, who converted a one-touch-cross inside of the posts.
SDSU head coach Mike Friesen said the key factor for the victory was creating chances to score and sticking to the team’s game plan.
“Scoring early in the game gave us a good start in the half,” Friesen said. “Having a better focus and not giving up on our goals allowed us to have a better execution.”
Friesen said getting healthy and recovering from this weekend will prepare the Aztecs for their upcoming game against Wyoming.
“Playing two games over the weekend at an elevation of 7,200 is difficult. Getting healthy is the key element to prepare us for our home game,” Friesen said. “Wyoming will be a tough test and is a team that will have the ball a lot more than us, but our execution will make us a tough team to beat.”
The Aztecs will host the Wyoming Cowboys on Friday, Oct. 20 at the SDSU Sports Deck.
