Jan. 31, 2017
SAN DIEGO - San Diego State women's soccer head coach Mike Friesen announced the addition of Nikolina Musto and Mikayla Arcebido to the Aztecs' program. The pair comes to Montezuma Mesa with prior Division I experience.
"We are excited to have added two players who will most likely play in the midfield for us in Nikolina and Mikayla," Friesen said. "Nikolina, who played at Idaho State, has a great personality and has great leadership qualities in addition to be being a very good soccer player. She strikes the ball well, can finish and makes a good final pass.
"Mikayla, meanwhile, joins us from Pepperdine. She has a wonderful first touch and is very explosive, two traits that will add to our midfield and occasionally up top for us. Mikayla is ultra fit and has a great motor, which helps her cover a lot of ground."
Musto, a native of Maui, Hawaii, is a graduate of King Kekaulike High. The midfielder played her first two years at Idaho State and played in all 39 games to go with 37 starts. As a freshman, Musto led the Bengals with five assists while ranking second on the team in shots (27) and points (5). Last season, Musto finished second on the team with six goals and first in assists (3, tied), points (15, tied), shots (53) and shots on goal (31).
Arcebido, who hails from Anaheim and Canyon High, played her first two seasons at Pepperdine. As a freshman in 2015, Arcebido played in 14 games, earning 12 starts, and scored one goal, which happened to be the winner vs. Arizona. This past season, the sophomore midfielder appeared in 19 games and received the starting nod seven times, including the team's NCAA second round game vs. N.C. State. In two seasons, Arcebido has attempted 15 shots with nine coming on net.
"Both players are going to give us something that we need to help fill some voids that we have," Friesen added. "We're excited about both of them given their great personalities. They are both team players and individually they bring some different things to the table."
Musto and Arcebido join a San Diego State team that finished 2016 with a 10-7-4 record and advanced to the title game of the Mountain West Championship. The 10-win season was SDSU's sixth straight and 2017 will provide the program the opportunity to match the school-record streak of seven.