SAN DIEGO – The San Diego State women's soccer team had everything come together on Sunday at the SDSU Sports Deck in a 4-1 Mountain West Conference victory over the Nevada Wolf Pack.
The win, the team's third in a row, in combination with a Boise State loss vaults the Aztecs into the a three-way tie for the lead in the conference standings.
The Aztecs (4-6-1, 3-1-0 MW) owned the run of play throughout the match, outshooting Nevada 20-to-7, including 9-to-3 in the first half, which was predominantly played in the Nevada half of the field.
Things were building throughout the first 15 minutes and the effort was paid off when Chloe Frisch scored her team-high third goal of the season in the 25th minute to stake SDSU to a 1-0 lead.
Maila Kaleiohi had possession at the top of the box and passed to Phoebe Leitch at the spot. Leitch played the ball on towards the left side to Frisch who hammered a shot inside the far post to make it 1-0 at the 24:44 mark.
The teams went to intermission with San Diego State's one goal lead and they wasted no time in adding to the advantage.
At the 46:30 mark, Frisch, driving down the left side, passed the ball into the box and Rachelle Elve ran onto it and beat the Nevada keeper low inside the far post. It was a mirror image of her goal against Colorado State two days ago and it would not be the last time SDSU executed it in Sunday's game.
San Diego State's two goal lead would last only 27 seconds.
Nevada's Lesley Gonzalez cut the lead in half at the 46:57 mark. She picked up a loose ball in the box and beat Aztec keeper Brooke Lisowski low to the right side of the goal to make it 2-1 SDSU.
San Diego State put the game away in the 62nd minute on Taylor Moorehead's second goal of the year. Darcy Weiser had the ball inside the box and passed it out to Moorehead who was 25 yards away from goal. The sophomore from Valencia, Calif., then fired a rocket which caromed off the left post and in to make the score 3-1.
A little over five and a half minutes later SDSU made it 4-1. On virtually the same play in which she scored what would end up being the game winner, Elve took the ball on the left side of the box from a pass off the foot of Leitch and fired a shot. The Nevada keeper scrambled off her line and just got a piece of the ball redirecting it away from the goal. Leitch, who kept driving toward the goal on the right side and a Nevada defender got tangled up on the goal line. But Leitch was not going to be denied and forced the ball in for her first tally of the season.
The four goals are the most by the team since a 5-0 victory over Air Force on October 21, 2018. The Aztecs have scored multiple goals in three of the last four games and over that period, the team is 3-1.
Ten Aztecs produced shots, a single-game season best, with Frisch leading the attack with four. Moorehead, Kaleiohi and Darcy Weiser took three shots each, while Elve attempted two. Laura Fuentes, Jordan Girman, Leitch, Lauren Dicus and Veronica Avalos fired a shot a piece.
Lisowski made one save and surrendered one goal, the first against her in over 237 minutes. With the win she improves her record to 4-6-1 and has earned three straight decisions.
For Nevada (2-9-0, 1-3-0 MW), Payton Lieb had a team-high three shots. Kendal Stoval gave up four goals and made four saves in the loss. Her record is now 2-9-0.
THE QUOTE
"The goal scoring today was amazing," head women's soccer coach Mike Friesen said. "Taylor (Moorehead) had a bomb; Phoebe (Leitch) was gritty again; Chloe (Frisch) had the confidence to come and hammer that shot in and Rachelle (Elve) scored the same goal as she did against Colorado State. It was so fun to see that. They are starting to understand what they are looking for form each other. They are recognizing it and executing it and that's huge.
"We've told the players all year, 'you're making deposits in a bank account that we will one day withdraw,' and they've worked hard all season, that was never in question. To see that pay off now is a huge confidence boost. This is not an unfamiliar position for this program, sitting on top. We're comfortable when teams are coming for us. We also know it's not easy and that is one thing this group has to understand. We are going to Boise next week and it will be incredibly difficult up there. The entire weekend will be tough (playing at Boise State and Utah State) and were going to have to grind out some wins.
"Freshman Kiera (Utush) is someone who we've thought about (putting in the center back position) for the last year, even before she arrived here. Over the years we have put players there who can control the game and we think she has all the qualities to do it and we felt this was the right moment to do it. We weren't sure if she was ready to take that kind of responsibility yet, but she did a great job and gives us some things which really opened Nevada up. She was able to connect passes and defended well. Jordan (Girman) was amazing as well (in a defensive back position). She has had some injury issues of the last three years, but she is a very good soccer player. She does things really well and understands what we are trying to do and how to do it. She is a gritty player who gave us everything she had all weekend.
NEXT UP
The Aztecs will spend the next two weeks on the road beginning next Friday at Boise State. Kickoff against the Broncos is scheduled for 4 p.m. (MT) with live stats and streaming video available through links on the women's soccer schedule page at www.goaztecs.com.
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Flood Gates Open For Women’s Soccer In 4-1 Victory
