Oct. 7, 2015
SAN DIEGO -
SDSU Women's Soccer Weekly Notes
Game Week Preview
Colorado State (3-8-2; 0-3-1 MW) at San Diego State (7-4; 3-1 MW)
Friday, Oct. 9 | 7 p.m. PT | Mountain West Network | SDSU Sports Deck | San Diego, California
San Diego State (7-4; 3-1 MW) at Wyoming (6-3-3; 2-2 MW)
Sunday, Oct. 11 | 1 p.m. MT | Mountain West Network | Louis S. Madrid Sports Complex | Laramie, Wyoming
Storylines
- San Diego State will begin its weekend at home and finish it on the road with games vs. Colorado State and Wyoming. The Aztecs will play host to the Rams on Friday at 7 p.m. PT and then hop on a plane headed for Denver, Colorado on Saturday. From there, SDSU will board a Laramie-bound bus in advance of Sunday's 1 p.m. MT game vs. Wyoming. Both games will stream live at GoAztecs.com via the Mountain West Network.
- SDSU shot up the Mountain West standings thanks to wins over UNLV and Nevada last week. The Aztecs, who started at the bottom of the standings after dropping their opener, all of a sudden find themselves in a three-way tie for second place with San José State and New Mexico, which are all 3-1 in league. The trio trails 4-0 Colorado College.
- San Diego State finds itself in this position after responding to the conference-opening loss with three shutout victories in a row. Following the setback, the Aztecs beat Utah State on the road, 2-0, and returned home for the first time in more than two weeks to post a 3-0 decision over UNLV and a 4-0 win over Nevada.
- With its pair of wins last week, SDSU improved to 6-0-1, including six straight victories, in its last seven games at SDSU Sports Deck. Colorado State will have the tall task of not only trying to snap the Aztecs' recent run, but overcoming a San Diego State team that has outscored its opponents, 18-3, at home.
- The Aztecs are a week into a month where they have had considerable success over the last six seasons. Since the 2009 campaign, San Diego State has posted a record of 38-7-3 (.823) in October. In games at SDSU Sports Deck, the Aztecs are 19-3-3 during the month (.820).
- Taking a look back at the wins over UNLV and Nevada, San Diego State had six different Aztecs score seven goals. Against the Rebels, Aliyah Utush, Milan Moses and Victoria Barba each had goals. Two days later vs. the Wolf Pack, Angela Mitchell, Leah Pruitt (twice) and Dani DeRosa found the back of the net. Barba had an assist in both games, while Jen Rupey (vs. UNLV), DeRosa (vs. Nevada) and Taylor Russell (vs. Nevada) each had one helper.
- There were a handful of firsts that occurred last week starting with Victoria Barba. The junior found the scoring column for the first time this season with her goal and assist vs. UNLV. Sophomore Dani DeRosa hopped in the same boat as Barba with her goal and assist vs. the Wolf Pack. Prior to the game, the transfer from Louisiana had not recorded a point through 10 games. Freshmen Taylor Russell and Leah Pruitt, meanwhile, joined in on the fun against Nevada as Russell picked up her first career point and Pruitt posted her first multi-goal performance.
- For as well as the offense played last week, the same could be said for the defense. During the three-game winning streak, the Aztecs have started senior Ashley Hauke, junior Jen Rupey (MW Defensive Player of the Week), sophomore Stacie Moran and sophomore Hailey Balma, who has started four consecutive games. The unit has been rock solid and has allowed senior goalkeeper Melanie Vaughn to close in on SDSU's career shutouts record. Vaughn has 22.5 clean sheets during her time at SDSU and has Aubree Southwick's 26 within reach.
- The Aztecs find themselves atop many statistical categories in the Mountain West despite being one of three teams in the league (Fresno State and New Mexico are the others) to have played the fewest games (11). SDSU ranks first in points (64), goals (23), goals per game (2.09), assists per game (1.64), goals allowed (9) and shutouts (6).
- Individually within the league, Leah Pruitt leads the MW in assists (6; t-25th nationally) and assists per game (0.55). Melanie Vaughn, meanwhile, is the class of the league with five shutouts and 0.45 shutouts per game.
- SDSU will face a Colorado State squad that it has played just twice. The Rams, who are in their third year of existence, were defeated by the Aztecs, 3-0, in San Diego (2013) and 1-0 in double overtime a year ago in Fort Collins.
- San Diego State heads to Wyoming to face a Cowgirls side it defeated twice last year. SDSU won the regular-season game, 5-2, and then won the MW tournament title in overtime, 1-0. Both games were in San Diego. Overall, the Aztecs are 14-3-1 against Wyoming, but just 4-3-1 in Laramie, losing on its last visit, 2-1, in 2013.
Opponent Notebook
Colorado State
The Rams come to Montezuma Mesa winless in their last five (0-4-1), three of which required extra time... CSU's last win came on the road in double overtime, a 1-0 decision at Nebraska-Omaha (Sept. 18)... Hannah Gerdin leads the team with four goals and nine points... Jesse McGinley has played every minute in net and has a GAA of 1.30, 72 saves and two shutouts.
Wyoming
The Cowgirls are 3-3 in their last six and lost their last game in overtime at Colorado College... Wyoming owns MW wins over Fresno State and at Air Force... Shaina Ashouri leads Wyoming and the Mountain West in goals (7) and points (18), and leads all Cowgirls with four assists... Goalkeepers Georgia Rowntree (630:00) and Cassidy Entsminger (536:35) have split time in net.