Nov. 4, 2003
Aztecs head to Salt Lake City for MWC Tournament
* The San Diego State women's soccer team plays UNLV in the MWC Quarterfinals at 2 p.m. MST on Wednesday in Salt Lake City, Utah. Should the Aztecs win, they would face host Utah at 2 p.m. MST on Thursday. A SDSU victory there would place the Aztecs in Saturday's MWC Championship, which is slated for a noon kickoff.
Live stats available for entire MWC Tournament
* Live stats for all Mountain West Conference Tournament games can be accessed at www.themwc.com/champ/soccer-today_03-mwc.html.
Pearson and SDSU's defensive streak comes to end
* UNLV defender Erin Egertson scored the only goal of the game in San Diego State's 1-0 loss Saturday night to the Rebels. The potent Aztec defense held the UNLV offense to only three shots on goal.
* Egertson's goal at the 82:24 mark was the first allowed by the Aztec defense since SDSU fell to Utah 2-0 on Oct. 18, a span of 299:54. The scoreless streak was the Aztecs' longest since the powerful 1998 team, which reached the NCAA round of 16, held opponents for a 361:15 span over five games.
* Goalkeeper Stephanie Pearson, who has played every minute in goal for the Aztecs, also has a MWC-leading seven shutouts on the season. Pearson's GAA in MWC games of 0.96 ranks second in the conference and her 59 saves in 2003 places her seventh on the all-time SDSU list. She has more than doubled her career SDSU save output this season alone (she had 54 last season and three the year before).
Gonzaga game cancelled
* San Diego State's game with Gonzaga, originally scheduled for Oct. 31, was cancelled due to the bad air quality in the San Diego area because of the fires.
Aztecs set a team record for playing extra sessions
* San Diego State's double-overtime match against New Mexico on Oct. 26 was the team's fifth of the season to go past the 90-minute mark, the first time that has occurred in SDSU history.
Scouting UNLV
* The Rebels are 8-9-2 overall and 2-4-0 in MWC action. UNLV defeated San Diego State, 1-0, on Saturday with a late goal from defender Erin Egertson. The Rebel win coupled with New Mexico's loss to Air Force leapfrogged the Rebels over New Mexico and into the No. 5 spot at the MWC Tournament and a meeting with the Aztecs.
* This marks the second consecutive season that UNLV and San Diego State will face off in both teams' regular season finales and first MWC Tournament games. Last season, SDSU defeated UNLV in the regular season finale, 2-1, on forward Kim Castellanos' overtime goal and then defeated the Rebels four days later in the MWC Quarterfinals by an identical 2-1 score, that time in regulation.
* Last year's quarterfinal meeting is the lone one between the schools in conference tournament history.
* UNLV is led by forward Annii Magliulo, who has eight goals and four assists for 20 points. Defender Erin Egertson has four goals and four assists (12 points). Goalkeeper Jenna Huff has a 1.18 goals against average with five shutouts.
* SDSU leads the all-time series, 6-1-0.
Scouting Utah
* The host Utes (15-2-0, 6-0-0 MWC) wrestled the MWC regular season championship from the Brigham Young Cougars for the first time ever with a 1-0 overtime victory on Saturday at South Stadium in Provo, Utah. BYU had won all four MWC regular season championships and with a victory over the Utes would have been 2003 co-champions with Utah. Forward Amanda Feigt scored the game winner 4:45 into the extra session in front of 2,019 bipartisan fans.
* Utah continues its amazing climb into excellence. Prior to head coach Rich Manning's arrival in 2002, the Utes' best record was in 1999 (13-7-0) and the team had never qualified for the NCAA Tournament. Last year, the team went 13-4-3 and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament, earning their first-ever win over BYU in the first round, 3-2 in overtime. Currently the Utes are ranked nationally in all four polls: No. 13 by Soccer Buzz, No. 15 by Soccer Times and Soccer America and No. 17 by the NSCAA.
* In last season's MWC Tournament, held in nearby Provo, the Utes defeated Wyoming, 1-0, in the quarterfinals before being upset by New Mexico, 1-0, in the semifinals.
* Utah has never hosted a league tournament.
* San Diego State is 1-2-0 all-time in conference tournament games played on the opponent's home field: falling to BYU in a 2002 MWC semifinal game, 9-2, defeating the Cougars in the 1998 Western Athletic Conference Championship, 2-1 in overtime, and falling to the Cougars in the 1996 championship, 3-1.
* The Utes lead the all-time series, 7-3-0. Utah leads 2-0-0 in MWC Tournament play, having beaten the Aztecs, 3-0, in the 2001 quarterfinals and, 2-1, in the 2000 semifinals.
The rest of the field
* Brigham Young (12-5-2, 4-2-0 MWC) faces Air Force (7-10-1, 1-5-0 MWC) at 9 a.m. MST while Wyoming (10-8-0, 4-2-0) plays New Mexico (2-11-4, 1-4-1 MWC) at 11:30 a.m. in the other two quarterfinals to be played on Wednesday. The winners will meet in a semifinal at 11 a.m. on Thursday.