Oct. 28, 2014
SAN DIEGO -
SDSU Women's Soccer Weekly Notes
Game Week Preview
New Mexico (8-5-2; 6-2-2 MW) at No. 20 San Diego State (14-3-1; 9-1 MW)
Friday, Oct. 31 | 7 p.m. PT | Mountain West Network | SDSU Sports Deck | San Diego, Calif.
Next Week: Mountain West Championship at SDSU Sports Deck
Nov. 4 - Quarterfinals: 4 & 7 p.m. PT | Nov. 6 - Semifinals: 4 & 7 p.m. PT | Nov. 8 - Championship 7 p.m. PT
Storylines
- No. 20 San Diego State closes out the regular season on Friday when New Mexico visits SDSU Sports Deck. First tap is scheduled for 7 p.m. PT with the contest airing at GoAztecs.com via the Mountain West Network. After the game, the Aztecs will honor their five seniors in Kelsey Booth, Mariah Helmer, Hannah Keane, Haley Locker and Katie Perry.
- SDSU enters the final game of the campaign as the three-time defending Mountain West regular-season champions. The Aztecs took down then-co-MW-leaders Wyoming, 5-2, last Friday night at home before earning a 1-0 double-overtime victory at Colorado State. San Diego State's road win, coupled with the Cowgirls' 2-1 loss at UNM, clinched the championship and No. 1 seed in the conference tournament for the Aztecs.
- The Mountain West regular-season title is the fourth in school history and the seventh MW championship overall, six of which have come under the direction of head coach Mike Friesen (2009 tournament, 2012 regular season, 2012 tournament, 2013 regular season, 2013 tournament, 2014 regular season).
- SDSU has won five regular-season titles (1998 WAC, 1999 MW, 2012 MW, 2013 MW, 2014 MW) and nine championships in school history (1995 WAC tourney, 1998 WAC regular season, 1999 MW regular season, 2009 MW tourney, 2012 MW regular season, 2012 MW tourney, 2013 MW regular season, 2013 MW tourney, 2014 MW regular season).
- SDSU's successful and undefeated weekend kept it in the Soccer America Top 25 for the third straight week, which extends a season-long streak. The Aztecs, who fell from No. 21 to No. 24 last week, moved up to No. 20 on Tuesday.
- In a matchup of two first-place teams in the MW, SDSU downed Wyoming thanks to four unanswered goals. Keane scored first in the 21st minute, only to have the Cowgirls level the score 10 minutes later. San Diego State later received an own goal in the 41st, which spurred Aztec goals from Locker (54th minute), Booth (62nd) and Perry (66th). Wyoming added its second goal of the game in the 72nd minute to provide the final margin.
- SDSU's game at Colorado State proved to be just the opposite of the Wyoming contest. The game was scoreless until Aliyah Utush sent the Rams packing in the 106th minute. The Golden Goal was her fifth of the season to match Keane and Perry for the second-most on the team. As a result of her assist on Keane's goal vs. Wyoming and game-winner at CSU, Utush picked up her second MW Offensive Player-of-the-Week honor of the season, making her just the second Aztec freshman to accomplish the feat in conference history and first since Aubree Southwick in 2007.
- The win over Wyoming prevented a two-game home conference losing streak in the same season from occurring for the first time in program history. San Diego State has now gone 126 consecutive games without dropping two consecutive home league games. The Aztecs began playing conference games in 1996 as members of the WAC.
- San Diego State will look to improve upon a 13-1 home record vs. the Mountain West in regular-season games since the start of 2012. When including the MW tournament games that took place at SDSU Sports Deck in 2012, the record expands to 15-1. Since the 2009 season, the Aztecs are 18-2-3 at home in the regular season vs. the league and 22-3-3 when including conference tournament games.
- SDSU will look to close the regular season by adding one more to the win column as it is 39-5-3 since 2009 against MW opponents and 29-3-1 since the beginning of 2011 (both are regular-season records only).
- The Aztecs love the month of October. Since 2012, SDSU has produced a 20-2 record in October and has won 11 of its last 12 in the month. Since 2009, San Diego State has an October record of 36-6-3.
- Booth, Keane, Locker and Helmer have led SDSU to a 58-19-7 record during their time on campus. Their .732 winning percentage is the best in school history over a four-year period. The 58 victories, meanwhile, is tied for the second most (1995-98: 58-21-5; .720) behind the 60 wins produced from 1996-99 (60-23-2; .718). Perry, the fifth senior in the class, has helped SDSU to a 27-10-3 mark to date following her transfer to San Diego State prior to the 2013 campaign.
- SDSU has posted a 10-5-7 record vs. New Mexico and has won three straight games. In fact, the Aztecs are unbeaten in their last four vs. the Lobos and are 4-0-1 in San Diego (6-1-1 overall). SDSU has not suffered a loss to UNM since October 2002.
Opponent Notebook
New Mexico
The Lobos swept their homestand last weekend, beating Colorado State and Wyoming... Since Oct. 10, UNM has posted a 5-1 record with the defeat coming to Utah State... New Mexico has given up just eight goals in 10 MW games (SDSU has scored 27 goals in MW action)... Ruth Bruciaga, Emily Chavez and Claire Lynch lead the Lobos with three goals apiece... Dylann O'Connor leads the team with eight points (2 g, 4 a)... Cassie Ulrich has a GAA of 1.10, four shutouts and 30 saves in net.