Last year, San Diego State women’s soccer missed out on the Mountain West tournament.
Now, SDSU finds itself in the conference championship game for the first time since 2017.
No. 2 SDSU won 3-2 against No. 6 Fresno State and advanced to its seventh championship game in eight years.
In their first game back in postseason action, the Aztecs made their presence felt once again.
The game got off to a slow start, but after a perfectly placed goal-kick from senior goalkeeper Brooke Lisowski, sophomore forward Taylor Moorhead scored in the 28th minute.
That goal would ignite a rapid fire, back-and-forth shootout between the two teams.
The Bulldogs answered right back when senior midfielder Melissa Ellis found space to fire a shot just inside the top right post to tie the game up 1-1 in the 31st minute.
One minute later, Aztecs freshman forward and All-Newcomer selection Rachelle Elve created space inside the box to send a shot into the top right corner of the net to score her sixth goal of the year, giving SDSU a 2-1 lead.
However, the shootout would continue with Ellis coming through again for Fresno State in the 39th minute.
After the ball bounced around in the box, Ellis put the ball in the bottom left corner to once again level the match at 2-2.
Giving up a brace to a player who had previously only scored two goals all season could have been rather dejecting, but the Aztecs remained relentless.
In what could perhaps be the shot of the year for SDSU, freshman midfielder Kiera Utush shot a free kick from 20 yards out and perfectly placed the shot into the upper right corner to give the Aztecs a 3-2 advantage in the 41st minute.
The Aztecs will now go on to face the winner of the Boise State vs. New Mexico game at 2 p.m. in the MW championship final.
The final will take place at noon on Saturday, Nov. 9 in the Boas Soccer Complex on Boise State’s campus.
