SAN DIEGO – Four months since the conclusion of its COVID-19 affected 2020 season, the San Diego State women's soccer team embarks on its 2021 slate with its regular season opener against Army West Point on the SDSU Sports Deck on Thursday, August 19, with kickoff scheduled for 7 p.m. The Aztecs will then host the Pepperdine Waves on Sunday, August 22 at 7 p.m. on the Sports Deck.
FIRST UP
Army West Point (0-0-0) at San Diego State (0-0-0)
Thursday, August 19 | 7 p.m. (PT) | SDSU Sports Deck | San Diego, Calif.
Pepperdine (0-0-0) at San Diego State (0-0-0)
Sunday, August 22 | 7 p.m. (PT) | SDSU Sports Deck | San Diego, Calif.
SCENE SETTER
San Diego State opens the 2021 regular season this week with consecutive home contests against Army West Point and Pepperdine on the Sports Deck.
Head Coach Mike Friesen begins his 15th campaign leading the Mountain West's most dominant women's soccer program. Friesen has guided his squad to ten Mountain West championships (five tournament and five regular season), and five NCAA Tournament appearances, both the most among any current league head coach. Now in his 15th season of conference play, Friesen has an 88-27-13 record. His 88 league victories are the most by any head coach in Mountain West history (the inaugural season of the league was 1999).
Friesen's 158 total victories (158-94-33) since the start of the 2007 season, the year he took control of the program, are the most by any current coach in the Mountain West and rank second in league history (Jennifer Rockwood, BYU, 190 victories). Colorado College's Geoff Bennett's 145 victories in the last 14 seasons ranks second among current MW head coaches.
The Aztecs are opening the season at home for the seventh time in eight seasons. In season openers on its home field, San Diego State is 14-6-1, but five of those six losses have come at the hands of Power-5 opponents. Now in its 32nd campaign, SDSU has a 19-13-1 record in season openers, regardless of location.
San Diego State is picked to finish in second place in the MW coaches' preseason poll. This marks the 11th time in 12 seasons the Aztecs have been picked to finish in either first or second place. The only time SDSU was lower than second place in the preseason poll in the last dozen years was in 2019, a year in which the Aztecs were predicted to finish fourth. That team went 10-9-1, shared the Mountain West regular-season title with an 8-2-0 league mark, and reached the championship game of the conference tournament.
San Diego State's 2.46 goals per game in 2020 is the highest for a Mountain West team in the last 19 seasons. In 1999 and 2002 Brigham Young averaged 2.68 goals per game and BYU owns the league record of 3.46 goals per game in 2000.
Having won five of the last eight regular-season titles, not including the 2020 season in which the league was divided into two divisions and the Aztecs earned the West Division title, SDSU finds itself not the favorite in the eyes of the conference's head coaches for just the second time in the last nine years (the other instance was in 2019).
The Aztecs have won nine of the last 16 MW trophies (regular season and tournament), all of which have come under the direction of head coach Mike Friesen. In total, the 15th-year head coach has guided San Diego State to ten conference titles.
San Diego State has earned 11 Mountain West titles since the conference's inception in 1999. SDSU was the regular season champions in 1999, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2019. The program was the tournament champion in 2009, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2017, and its five tournament titles are the most among any current member of the Mountain West and the second best in the league's history (BYU, 7).
When the Aztecs face Army West Point on Sept. 19, 2021, its 10-game home match winning streak will be on the line. The last time San Diego State lost on the Sports Deck came on Sept. 13, 2019, in a 0-1 decision to San Diego. That is more than two years without a home defeat.
PLAYER NOTES
San Diego State brings back six of its 11 goal scorers from last year, including 2020 Mountain West Newcomer of the Year and first-team All-Mountain West performer Anna Toohey (Sr., F, Winston-Salem, N.C.). Toohey tallied six goals, including three game winners, and led the side with six assists. Her 30 shots and 19 shots on goal ranked second on the squad and her 18 points paced the Aztecs last season. She led the MW in assists & assists per game, was second in points per game and third in total assists.
Joining Toohey from last season is multiple goal scorers Rachelle Elve (So., F, Huntington Beach, Calif.), who accomplished the program's 10th hat trick with three strikes at San Jose State (3/12) and Laura Fuentes (Sr., MF, Newark, Calif.) who placed two in the back of the net. The side got single goals from returners Claire Watkins (Jr., D, San Diego, Calif.), Jessica Sanders (Jr., D, San Carlos, Calif.) and Kiera Utush (Jr., D, Rocklin, Calif.).
Laura Fuentes (Sr., MF, Newark, Calif.), a United Soccer Coaches second-team All-Pacific Region midfielder, finished in a tie for second in the MW with four assists. Along with two goals she totaled eight points. Fuentes was named a first-team All-MW performer last season after garnering second team honors in 2018 and 2019. In addition, she was named the league Newcomer of the Year following her freshman campaign (2018).
Alexa Madueno (Fr., GK, Woodland, Calif.) went 8-3-0 last year, had a .714 save percentage (35-of-49) and surrendered 14 goals in 1,005 (1.25 GAA). She was included on the Mountain West All-Newcomer team and was a second-team All-MW performer. Madueno is the first true freshman keeper to start every game in a season for SDSU since Aubree Southwick in 2007 and is the third keeper, and only true freshman, to play every minute in a season for the Aztecs since Stephanie Pearson in 2003. The only other keeper to start and play every minute in a season for San Diego State since 2003 was Brooke Lisowski in 2019.
Emma Gaines-Ramos (So., F, San Diego, Calif.), a starter in all 11 matches a year ago, was named a first-team All-Mountain West performer and ranked No. 7 in the league in assists (3). Her assist total was the second most by an Aztec freshman in the last five years (Rachelle Elve (Jr., F, Huntington Beach, Calif.) 4 in 2019).
Rachelle Elve (Jr., F, Huntington Beach, Calif.) has totaled 10 goals in the last two seasons, the highest total among returning Aztecs (Chloe Frisch, who graduated after the 2020 season, scored 11 goals in her last two campaigns). Elve returns this season as the Mountain West's top goal scorer in the last two seasons. Last season at San Jose State (3/12/21), in the team's first foray away from home, she tallied the program's 10th hat trick and the first since Aliyah Utush's trifecta vs. New Mexico on Nov. 4, 2017.
Two seniors from last season have opted to take advantage of the extra year of eligibility offered by the NCAA due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Malia Kaleiohi (Sr., D, San Diego, Calif.), who has a goal and three assists in 43 career games, and Daniela Filipovic (Sr., Laguna Hills, Calif.), who recorded the first point of her career, an assists last season, are back in 2021.
GENERAL NOTES
With the start of a new season, the Aztecs will have to replace several faces who have been fixtures in SDSU's lineup. They include Chloe Frisch (MF, Solana Beach, Calif.), who was last year's Mountain West Offensive Player of the Year, a United Soccer Coaches first-team All-Pacific Region performer, first team All-Mountain West designee and Top Drawer Soccer's No. 79 ranked player. Frisch completed her college eligibility tied for No. 8 on the program's career assists list. Sarah Broacha (D, Pleasanton, Calif.), a center defender who anchored the back line, was twice an All-MW performer (first team in 2020) and started 70 of her 71 appearances as an Aztec. In addition, Veronica Avalos (F, (San Diego, Calif.), who had a hat trick in the final regular-season game of her career, Jordan Girman (D, Cotati, Calif.), who picked up the first assist and goal of her career in 2020, and Phoebe Leitch (D/MF, Forest Row. England), who in 60 appearances totaled seven goals and two assists, have all moved on.
The Aztecs 20-11-5 (.625) record in the Mountain West Tournament is the best among any current member and is the second highest in the league's history (BYU, 19-4-1 - .813).
In its lone exhibition ahead of the regular season, the Aztecs hosted the Arizona Wildcats on Aug. 10 and despite the stats being nearly identical (Arizona led 10-to-9 in shots, 5-to-4 in corners, and 4-to-1 in saves, while SDSU led 4-to-3 in shots on goal & 9-to-7 in fouls), the Aztecs dropped a 0-2 decision on the Sports Deck. Denise Castro (Fr., MF/F, San Ysidro, Calif.) led the side with three shots. Alexa Madueno (So., GK, Woodland, Calif.) played 57:28 and surrendered both Wildcat goals while Cameron Illingworth (So., GK, Santa Ana, Calif.) was in goal for 32:32 and did not face a shot which reached her line. In total, three freshmen earned a start vs. Arizona (Castro, Trinity Coker (Fr., D, Poway, Calif.) & Sarah Funk (Fr., F, El Cajon, Calif.) and a total of 10 newcomers saw minutes.
OPPONENT NOTEBOOK
Army West Point
The Black Knights were predicted to finish fourth in the Patriot League coaches preseason predicted order of finish... Last season, Army West Point posted a 4-1-0 record, all in Patriot League action and will make the program's first appearance on the Sports Deck in the two program's first ever meeting... Army West Point returns the majority of its scoring from a year ago in Elise Urkov (2G, 2A, - 6 PTS), Dara Murray (1G , 1A- 3 PTS) and Alyssa Carfagno, Lauren Drysdale,a preseason All-Patriot League honoree, Trinity Garay, Melanie Hupp and Kaitlin Palaian (1G - 2 PTS each)... Those seven combined to tally eight of the team's 10 goals last year... The Black Knights will be using an untested keeper in either Sarah Rutherford or Taylor Stalheim, neither of which has appeared for Army West Point during their college careers... The Black Knights are coached by Tracy Chao, who is in her second season at the helm of the program and brings a Division I career-record of 4-1-0 into the season.
Aztecs Open Regular Season Hosting Army West Point
