Nov. 3, 2005
LAS VEGAS, Nev. - The San Diego State women's soccer team fell to UNLV, 2-1, on an overtime goal by Haley Partridge Thursday night in a Mountain West Conference semifinal match at Peter Johann Memorial Field in Las Vegas, Nev. The sixth-seeded Aztecs ended their season with an 11-9-2 record, while the second-seeded Rebels (12-6-3) will move on to play fifth-seeded New Mexico in the championship game at noon Saturday.
SDSU, which was shutout (3-0) at UNLV on Saturday, kept the Rebels on the defensive for the majority of the first half, winning most of the balls in the air and 50-50 chances.
Freshman Mariko Strickland had a good look at net in the 21st minute and almost gave the Aztecs a 1-0 lead, but her shot from just outside the penalty area missed the net high.
SDSU took advantage of its next good chance in the 33rd minute, when Strickland won a loose ball and threaded a pass to Mello, who blasted a shot into the lower-right corner from 12 yards out. It was Mello's team-leading eighth goal of the season and first in eight games (Oct. 9 at Air Force).
The Aztecs went into intermission with a 5-2 lead in shots and 1-0 edge in corner kicks.
Just minutes into the second half (49:15), UNLV's Katie Carney had a chance to tie the game at one apiece when she received a pass and was all alone just inside the six-yard box. However, SDSU sophomore goalkeeper Cat Burson (5-5-2) managed to get a foot on the sure goal and corral the ball.
The Aztecs had a few chances to put the game away midway through the second half, but were unable to capitalize. Senior Amanda Swiader's penalty kick at 66:48 was saved by the Rebels' Jenna Huff, the 2005 MWC Goalkeeper of the Year. Minutes later, freshman Erika Sutton had a good look when she beat a UNLV defender, but shot the ball right at Huff.
The Rebels finally got on the scoreboard in the 88th minute (87:51) when Tanya Roberts headed in a goal off a corner kick from Carney.
At the end of the second half, SDSU had a 12-5 advantage in shots while UNLV had four corner kicks to the Aztecs' 1.
Early in the overtime period, Partridge took a long shot from the right side that just barely went over Burson's head for the game-winning goal.
Burson finished with two saves, while Huff made six stops for the Rebels.
For the match, SDSU outshot UNLV, 13-6, and was outcornered, 4-3.
Sutton had a game-high four shots for the Aztecs, sophomore Jessica Girdner had three attempts and Mello and Strickland contributed two shots apiece.
GAME NOTES: Mello's eight goals are the most by a SDSU freshman since Kim Castellanos had 10 in 2000 ... The Aztecs' final eight goals were been by different players ... Swiader's missed penalty kick was her first in four career attempts ... SDSU began the game with the same starters - Cat Burson, Ashley Tenn, Millie Allen, Alexis Solovij, Jen Mello, Erika Sutton, Amanda Swiader, Jessica Girdner, Mariko Strickland, Ashley Young and Ashley Cooper - for the third consecutive game for the first time since it went four games with the same group against Portland (Sept. 2), Washington (Sept. 4), Nebraska (Sept. 6) and UC Riverside (Sept. 9).