May 30, 2006
SAN DIEGO - San Diego State enjoyed a tremendous campaign as it finished with a 22-12 record, its ninth season with at least 20 victories, and a No. 7 final national ranking. Even with a relatively young squad, the Aztecs experienced success early and often in 2006.
SDSU began the season on a high note as it posted victories against Santa Clara and Indiana in its first two matches at the UCSD Triton Invitational. With an opportunity to reach the championship final, the Aztecs dropped a narrow 7-6 decision to Long Beach State setting up a match against UC Santa Barbara. With third place on the line, SDSU came away with a 6-5 victory over the Gauchos to start the year at 3-1.
Over the next six games, the Aztecs went 3-3 with their wins coming at CS Northridge, 11-5, and against Arizona State and San Jose State at the Gaucho Invitational. The three defeats came at the hands of top-five programs in Hawai'i, USC and Loyola Marymount.
Following a seventh-place finish at the Gaucho Invite, SDSU returned home to play host to Pacific and Occidental College in a doubleheader where it would put on an offensive show. Against the Tigers, the Aztecs set a school record for goals scored in a single game when they demolished UOP, 24-5. Seventeen of SDSU's 18 active roster players scored at least one goal with six tallying multiple goals. Later that day, the Aztecs cruised to a 17-6 victory over Occidental to improve to 8-4.
SDSU extended its winning streak to four when it defeated LBSU, 7-3, in a conference match at home only to have UCLA snap it with a 12-3 effort in Los Angeles the next day. The loss seemed to light a fire under the Aztecs as they would not taste defeat for two weeks en route to a school record nine-match winning streak. SDSU swept through the Wolverine Invite in Ann Arbor, Mich., and the LMU Invitational in L.A. to run its winning streak to seven. Then to wrap up its road trip, the Aztecs went into Irvine, Calif., and beat UC Irvine and Maryland for their eighth and ninth straight victories.
California broke SDSU's streak and it led to four consecutive losses before the Aztecs notched a win at home against UCSB on Senior Day. Five days later, SDSU traveled to UCSD and kept the Harper Cup on Montezuma Mesa for a fifth straight season as it grinded out a 6-5 victory. Stacy Werner earned MVP honors after recording six steals, one goal and an assist.
After a loss at ASU, the Aztecs entered the MPSF Championship in Irvine as the No. 9 seed. SDSU opened the tournament by upsetting the No. 8 seed in SJSU, 5-3, propelling it into the quarterfinals against USC. The Aztecs wound up losing to the Women of Troy and then fell to Cal in the consolation bracket. In the seventh-place match, SDSU beat the host Anteaters, 5-4, to finish higher than its tournament seed for the second straight season.
At the conclusion of the conference championship, the MPSF named Rachel Serna to its honorable mention all-league squad. The award marks the second straight year in which she earned all-MPSF accolades.
With another successful season in the books, the majority of the squad set to return next year and the completion of the Aztec Aquaplex, 2007 certainly looks bright for San Diego State.