Nov. 2, 2014
SAN DIEGO - The San Diego State Aztec men's soccer team attempted to send its seniors out on a high-note for senior day Sunday afternoon, but suffered another tough-luck, close loss in overtime to No. 8 Stanford, 1-0, at SDSU Sports Deck.
With the Aztecs playing even with another top-10 opponent, Stanford broke the scoreless tie with Austin Meyer's goal off an assist from Jordan Morris eight minutes into overtime. The shot deflected off an SDSU defender and was redirected just past the outstretched arms of diving redshirt freshman goalkeeper Adam Allmaras for the Golden Goal.
Despite the loss, San Diego State (7-11, 1-8 Pac-12) finished the season with a 7-5 home record, as the Aztecs have knocked off three ranked opponents at the Sports Deck with all five of its defeats coming by just one goal. Overall, all but one of SDSU's losses this season have come to teams who have either been ranked or received votes in the NSCAA Coaches Poll at some point this season, and all but two defeats have been decided by one goal.
Freshman forward David Olsen had a team-high three shots on Sunday, while senior Pablo Vasquez and sophomore Casey Macias each recorded two shots apiece. Allmaras finished with four saves, including a clutch stop on a Morris' shot in the 80th minute to keep the Cardinal off the scoreboard. In addition, senior defender and team-captain Evyn Hewett played all 90 minutes, and has still played every minute of every match this season.
The Aztecs had one of their best scoring opportunities of the day just before halftime, when freshman Donald Benamna broke away from the Cardinal defense and sent a left-footed shot that narrowly went wide right of the net in the 43rd minute. The two teams tied with seven corner kicks apiece, and were even in shots attempted in the first half, 8-8, before Stanford (10-2-3, 3-1-3) eventually finished the match with a 15-11 edge.
San Diego State wraps up its season on Nov. 16 on the road against No. 1 UCLA, beginning at 1 p.m. PT.
Man of the Match: Seniors Evyn Hewett (La Palma, Calif.), Wil Cannon (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.), Henrik Synnes (Vigra, Norway) and Pablo Vasquez (Madrid, Spain) were each named Man of the Match on Sunday afternoon, as they played their final home match at SDSU Sports Deck.