San Diego State men’s soccer lost 3-2 to crosstown opponent University of San Diego on Aug. 30 at the SDSU Sports Deck.
The Aztecs didn’t get the result they hoped for to kick off their regular season.
“I’m disappointed we didn’t put our best foot forward in the match,” head coach Lev Kirshner said.
USD outshot the Aztecs 13 to five and held a 5-to-4 advantage on corner kicks.
Six of the 13 shot attempts came from USD senior forward Miguel Berry, who gave the Aztecs problems all night long.
Berry’s pair of goals and one assist in the game proved to be the difference-maker for the visitors.
“We didn’t do a good job containing him,” Kirshner said. “We got ourselves isolated too often and that’s dangerous when you’re dealing with a player like him.”
The Toreros snapped a four-year losing streak on Friday night. The last time USD defeated the Aztecs was back on Aug. 20, 2015.
The rivalry between the two San Diego-based teams continues, but for now it’s USD who holds bragging rights.
“All credit to USD for making things difficult for us,” Kirshner said. “Our guys are going to need to bounce back and regroup.”
The Aztecs were up early after senior midfielder Pablo Pelaez scored his first goal of the season inside the penalty box as a result of a foul in the eighth minute.
In the 24th minute, the Toreros tied the game after junior midfielder Ross Meldrum received a pass from Berry on the right wing with Meldrum finishing up top past SDSU sophomore goalkeeper Harrison Skinner.
Moments later, the Aztecs earned a corner. Redshirt junior Keegan Kelly crossed the ball directly towards junior forward Tevenn Roux.
Roux deflected the ball toward the feet of sophomore midfielder Tristian Weber, who then finished and positioned the Aztecs to re-take the lead cruising into halftime.
It was both Weber’s first career goal as a collegiate player and as an Aztec.
SDSU’s overall performance appeared to be stronger in the first half, considering their two goals and four out of five shot attempts occurred during the period.
“I thought we had a strong opening 45 minutes,” Skinner said. “It’s hard to take the result, but we still had our moments throughout the match.”
The Aztecs had chances to score more goals, but the outcome remains the same on the scoresheet.
“It’s definitely a disappointing result,” Pelaez said. “The guys worked hard, but at the end of the day, we got to look in the mirror and see what we can improve on.”
Skinner added the Aztecs need to stay positive despite an early-season loss.
“We have to keep our heads up and find a result after a loss,” Skinner said. “We can’t get down on ourselves this early in the season.”
