San Diego State women’s soccer was defeated 6-1 against No. 22 Texas Tech in the Aztecs’ regular season opener Thursday night at the SDSU Sports Deck.
The Aztec defense gave up five goals in the first half, with three different Texas Tech players finding the back of the net.
SDSU had its struggles early on, giving up a goal in the second minute to Red Raider senior midfielder Jayne Lydiatt, and once again to Lydiatt in the tenth minute off a cross from senior midfielder Savanna Jones.
In the 30th minute, the defensive woes continued as Lydiatt managed to get a successful through ball to Texas Tech junior forward Kirsten Davis, where she managed to convert a shot.
No more than 28 seconds later, Davis managed to score again off her own, unassisted shot.
The Red Raiders managed to give one final blow before the halftime break, with senior forward Demi Koulizakis scoring a header off a cross from senior defender Margaret Begley.
SDSU’s offense had its fair share of issues in the first 45 minutes as well, only managing to put up four shots.
The Aztecs came out of the locker room at the half a bit more aggressively, managing to earn a penalty kick for freshman Kiera Utush in the 50th minute.
Utush would convert the kick successfully for her first career goal, as well as SDSU’s first goal of the 2019 campaign.
Her main focus was on getting the game going again after her shot. She said she enjoyed netting her first goal.
“I was focusing on getting the shot off and getting the ball back into play right away because we were down, but it was fun,” Utush said. “It was exciting.”
However, Texas Tech would eventually answer back with a shot that rebounded off of Aztec senior goalkeeper Brooke Lisowski.
Red Raider freshman forward Marisa Weichel took advantage of the rebound to score for Texas Tech.
Thursday night would prove to be a tale of two halves for the Aztecs, playing a more balanced game and doing a better job of keeping up with Texas Tech in the second half.
SDSU junior forward Chloe Frisch felt the team’s offense did many things successfully coming out of the locker room.
“I thought that first half we were a little timid, but in the second half we brought it, we opened up the field, we found gaps and we looked for opportunities to score,” Frisch said.
Head coach Mike Friesen gave his team high praises for its second-half performance, believing it was one of the best showings in the past few years.
“I thought we were big time in the second half, probably one of the best performances we’ve had in three years, and I believe wholeheartedly after the end of that that we’ll be in contention to win another title,” Friesen said.
In addition to encouraging championship hopes for Friesen, Thursday’s game also proved to be a chance for him to try out a new goalkeeper in Lisowski.
“I thought she was okay,” Friesen said. “The first several goals in the first half were not her fault, we were letting (shots) go in behind her constantly.”
Lisowski’s game on Thursday was her first as an Aztec after a four-year career at California which only saw her play in three games.
“I don’t think I’ve ever been uncomfortable,” Lisowski said. “There were first game jitters, I guess, getting those out of the way.”
The Aztecs’ next game will come this Sunday at noon on Aug. 25th against Long Island University at the SDSU Sports Deck.
