SAN DIEGO – San Diego State women's soccer players Denise Castro, Anna Toohey and Kiera Utush garnered All-Mountain West honors on Tuesday afternoon. All three were second-team honorees and Castro was also named to the all-freshman team. The announcement was made from the conference office in Colorado Springs, Colo.
The awards are based on each player's accomplishments during the 11-game Mountain West regular season slate.
Castro, a freshman forward, led the team and was tied for second in the league in shots (36) and her 16 shots on goal were good for a tie for third in the league and also paced the Aztecs. She appeared in 10 of the team's 11 league contests and made eight starts. The San Ysidro, Calif., native scored three times, once against Boise State and twice at Nevada, and had an assist on the game winner versus Boise State. Among the 11 players on the all-newcomer team, all freshman, she led the slate in shots, and shots on goal.
A senior striker, Toohey led the team in points in Mountain West play (8), tied Castro for the team lead in goals (3) and shared the team lead in assists (2) with two teammates. Her 17 shots and nine shots on goal ranked third on the side. The Winston-Salem, N.C., native, had game winners, in a pair of 1-0 decisions at UNLV and vs. Air Force, which tied for second most among league performers and led the team.
Utush, a center defender and junior from Ripon, Calif., started all 11 league games for the Aztecs and her 1,037 minutes were two shy of the team lead in conference action. She produced seven shots and put one on frame. The Ripon, Calif., product, was the anchor for a back line that contributed heavily in the team's 1.09 goals against average which tied for fourth in the league.
San Diego State's season came to a close in the quarterfinal round of the 2021 Mountain West Championship. The team finished with a 7-11-2 record, 5-4-1 and in third place in the Mountain West.
-SDSU-