Oct. 3, 2004
SAN DIEGO - The third-ranked Washington women's soccer team earned a 1-0 triumph over San Diego State at the SDSU Sports Deck on Sunday. The Huskies improve to 9-1-0 with the win, while the Aztecs lost their second consecutive game and fell to 3-6-3.
Junior Kim Taylor tallied the only goal of the match at the 13:16 mark, when she fired a shot from just outside the penalty box into the upper-right corner past a diving SDSU goalkeeper Sophia Perez. Senior Nikki Gamble was credited with the assist on the play.
Both teams had plenty of scoring chances throughout the game, but both goalkeepers turned in impressive efforts. Washington's Kelsey Rasmussen made three saves to record the shutout, including a diving save on the Aztecs' Ashley Cooper in the 76th minute. Perez finished the game with three stops in 87:03, while freshman Melissa Deckers played 2:57 without facing a shot.
"Step one is for our team to think we can play with these (ranked) teams," first-year head coach Mike Giuliano said. "Step two is thinking that we can beat these teams. I thought we played with them for the whole game. We just need to put the ball in the net."
Junior midfielder Erica Lopez had two shots for the Aztecs, including one on goal, and senior Courtney Burns, juniors Ashley Cooper and Alexis Solovij, and freshman Lisa Nielsen contributed one shot apiece.
The SDSU defensive backfield of senior Noelle Jouglet, junior Amanda Swiader and freshman Ashley Young limited the Husky offense, who came into the match averaging 11.9 shots and 1.9 goals per game, to nine shots, with only four on goal.
The Aztecs will open up the Mountain West Conference portion of the schedule on the road against BYU at 7 p.m. (MST) Thursday, before traveling to Utah, the defending MWC champions, for a game at 1 p.m. (MST) Saturday.