Oct. 18, 2002
SAN DIEGO - Junior forward Ryan Curtis scored his first goal of the 2002 campaign in SDSU's match against UNLV, but it wasn't enough for the Aztecs as the San Diego State men's soccer team was defeated by the Rebels, 2-1, Friday afternoon at the SDSU Sports Deck. Fresh off its 3-2 victory over then-No. 7 Loyola Marymount on Wednesday, the Aztecs now own a 4-8-1 overall record, 0-1 in Mountain Pacific Sports Federation action.
The match was a 0-0 stalemate at halftime. SDSU had a 6-5 advantage in shots during the first half and earned two more cornerkicks than the Rebels (5-3).
"We felt that certainly the first 20 minutes of the game was all San Diego State," said head coach Lev Kirshner. "We had four shots and they had none and we had four cornerkicks. But we were never able to put those away. And when the game stays 0-0, the other team gets the opportunity to get back into the match."
The first goal of the game was scored in the 68th minute, when Rebel midfielder Alex Hernandez knocked in a goal with assistance from Kelly Frederick. Twelve minutes later, Frederick found the back of the net off an assist from midfielder Brendon Bain.
With a minute and a half remaining in regulation, Aztec sophomore Paul Szefler and senior Ryan Cook put the ball into position for Curtis to score, thus escaping a shutout.
"The guys battled hard, we played extremely well," Kirshner said. "We're banged up and we're fighting with everything we have. For us to come back from Wednesday's match and show this type of effort, I'm very proud."
The Aztecs' next opponent is the New Mexico Lobos. The match begins at 1 p.m. in Albuquerque on Sunday.
SCORING SUMMARYUNLV - Alex Hernandez (Frederick) - 67:38UNLV - Kelly Frederick (Bain) - 79:32SDSU - Ryan Curtis (Szefler, Cook) - 88:37