Women's Soccer Hosts Pepperdine Sunday Night

SAN DIEGO - Coming off a 1-0 decision over Army West Point in its 2021 season opener, the San Diego State women's soccer team hosts the Pepperdine Waves in a rare Sunday night affair on the Sports Deck. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.

NEXT UP
Pepperdine (1-0-0) at San Diego State (1-0-0)
Sunday, August 22 | 7 p.m. (PT) | SDSU Sports Deck | San Diego, Calif.

SCENE SETTER
After a 1-0 opening night victory over Army West Point on Thursday, San Diego State hosts its second consecutive home contests on the Sports Deck to open the 2021 campaign, a rare Sunday night match against Pepperdine. 

Laura Fuentes (Sr., MF, Newark, Calif.) scored the lone goal in the Aztecs season-opening 1-0 decision against Army West Point. She opened her season account with a 58th minute penalty kick. Fuentes is a perfect 4-for-4 in her career in PKs and has tallied one in each of her four seasons. 

The Mountain West announced on Thursday afternoon that all conference contests which were scheduled for October 29 have been rescheduled for October 28, and that the Mountain West Championship, originally set to run from Nov. 2-6 in Boise, Idaho, will now be conducted from Nov. 1-6 in Boise. 

In a series that began in 1993, the Aztecs have played the Waves ten times, but are 3-7-0 in the all-time series, including a 2-3-0 mark in games played in San Diego. Pepperdine is undefeated in the last three meetings, including a 1-0 victory on Sept. 14, 2018, the last match up on San Diego State's home field.

The Aztecs opened the regular season on Thursday with a 1-0 victory over Army West Point. The win improved the program's record in season openers, on its home pitch, to 15-6-1. Since 2007, when head coach Mike Friesen assumed leadership of the program, SDSU is 7-3-1 in games which opened a season on the Sports Deck. Those three losses are all to Power-5 programs, and two of those programs went on to appear in that season's NCAA Tournament (UCLA in 2016 & Texas Tech in 2019). Now in its 33rd year of competition, the Aztecs are 18-14-1 overall in season openers, regardless of location.

In his 15th campaign leading the Mountain West's most dominant women's soccer program, head coach Mike Friesen has guided his squad to ten Mountain West championships (five tournament and five regular season), and five NCAA Tournament appearances, each the most among any current league head coach. Entering 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 MW was in 1999). 

Friesen's 159 victories (159-94-33) 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.

PLAYER NOTES
Laura Fuentes (Sr., MF, Newark, Calif.), a 2020 United Soccer Coaches second-team All-Pacific Region and first-team All-MW performer led the side with four shots, three shots on frame and the lone goal in a 1-0 decision against Army West Point (8/19). The tally was the fourth PK of her career and the fourth game winner. She has never missed a contest and has earned a starting assignment in each of her 51 career games.

Striker Emma Gaines-Ramos (Sr., F, San Diego, Calif.) tallied two shots, putting one on frame, in 57 minutes against Army West Point (8/19). Each were one off her single-game career best of three shots and two shots on goal.

In her collegiate debut, Denise Castro (Fr., MF, San Ysidro, Calif.) earned a start against Army West Point (8/19). She produced two shots, both on goal, in 60 minutes of action.

Claire Watkins (Jr., D, San Diego, Calif.) has started all 12 games since transferring from Oregon prior to the 2020 campaign. Against Army West Point (8/19) she took two shots, one from equaling her single game career best. She, along with fellow defenders Kiera Utush (Jr., D, Rocklin, Calif.) and Lauren Dicus (Sr., D, Danville, Calif.), each played all 90 minutes. With the departure of four-year starting center defender Sarah Broacha, Watkins and Utush have taken the reins as the program's center defenders.

Lauren Dicus (Sr., D, Danville, Calif.) earned the 37th starting assignment of her career, including the last 12 games in a row. Dicus took one shot against Army West Point (8/19) and her 58th minute attempt resulted in a hand ball in the AWP box and resulted in Fuentes' game winning PK. 

Sarah Funk (Fr., F, El Cajon, Calif.) produced one shot in her collegiate debut and along with Castro were the two freshmen on the side who started against Army West Point (8/19).

In total, seven freshmen saw field time in the Aztecs season opener. In addition to Castro and Funk, Trinity Coker (Fr., D, Poway, Calif.) played 45 minutes and attempted one shot. Hope Paredes (Fr., MF, Irvine, Calif.) produced a shot in 27 minutes and Nicholette Palomo (Fr., F, Cerritos, Calif.), Alexys Ocampo (Fr., F/MF, Upland, Calif.) and  Carlin Blake (MF, Overland Park, Kan.), played 17, 24 and 53 minutes, respectively.

2020 Mountain West Newcomer of the Year and first-team All-Mountain West performer Anna Toohey (Sr., F, Winston-Salem, N.C.), was on the field against Army West Point (8/19) for 73 minutes and attempted one shot.

Alexa Madueno (Fr., GK, Woodland, Calif.) played 90 minutes against Army West Point (8/19) and recorded the fourth clean sheet of her college career in a 1-0 decision. Madueno made four saves, three in the final 10 minutes to secure the Aztecs victory. She went 8-3-0 last year, had a .714 save percentage (35-of-49) and surrendered 14 goals in 1,005 minutes (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. 
 
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. At San Jose State (3/12/21), in the team's first foray away from home during the 2020 campaign, 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 utilize 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., MF, Laguna Hills, Calif.), who recorded the first point of her career, an assists last season, are back in 2021.