Sept. 23, 2016
SAN DIEGO -
Air Force-San Diego State Final Box 
San Diego State junior forward Aliyah Utush scored a pair of goals to help lead the Aztecs to a 2-0 victory over Air Force in both school's Mountain West opener Friday night at SDSU Sports Deck. The Scarlet and Black improved to 3-5 overall (1-0 MW), while the Falcons fell to 4-3-1 (0-1 MW).
"Tonight was a great way to open conference with a 2-0 win, to get a shutout and to get a couple of goals," head coach Mike Friesen said. "We created a lot of good chances and we have created more momentum as we've put together several good performances in a row.
"The nice part was we were able to rest some bodies and get prepared for Sunday. We know it's a long road and we're going to take it one game at a time, but it's good to get the first one."
The first goal of the game took almost no time as Utush scored what would be the game-winner in the fifth minute. The Rocklin native took the ball from just inside the midline off a pass from Victoria Barba and dribbled along the sideline where she beat her defender and cut toward the goal. From there, she took a hard-angled diagonal shot from six yards out that beat Falcon goalkeeper Jennifer Hiddink.
The remaining 40 minutes of the first half ended with the scoreboard unchanged despite a handful of San Diego State opportunities that it could not finish. At the halftime horn, the Aztec offense was credited with eight shots, including four on target. SDSU's defense was rock solid again, holding Air Force to just two shots, but with another half to play.
When action resumed, it was more of the aggressive style of play for the Aztecs on both sides of the ball. Offensively, San Diego State pressed forward, and when the Falcons made a run, the Aztecs put an end to the threat before things got dangerous.
SDSU's insurance goal came in the 59th minute on what started off as a throw from Gabby English. The redshirt freshman heaved the ball down the field where it was gathered by Ariana Robles. The true freshman then played a well-positioned ball up to a sprinting Utush where the junior was forced to get to the ball before an oncoming Hiddink. The junior successfully won the foot race and put just enough juice behind her shot to have the ball trickle into the empty net.
Even with a 2-0 lead, the Aztecs continued to look for more, but could not find their third goal of the game. But with a comfortable lead, Friesen, as mentioned earlier, was able to get a lot of players onto the pitch. In all, 21 Aztecs saw the field with six reserves playing at least 17 minutes.
SDSU finished with a 14-4 advantage in shots and a 6-1 edge in shots on goal. The Aztecs also had four corner kicks to the Falcons' one.
Utush, Angela Mitchell and Milan Moses each had a game-high three shots, and Dani DeRosa had two in 46 minutes off the bench. English, meanwhile, had one save and has not allowed an opponent to score in 394:21.
The Aztecs, who won their sixth straight Mountain West regular-season home game, return to action on Sunday afternoon when they play host to Colorado College, which won at New Mexico tonight, 1-0. First tap at SDSU Sports Deck is scheduled for noon PT and the contest will stream live at GoAztecs.com via the Mountain West Network. Admission is free.