LINCOLN, Neb. – Denise Castro scored the game-winner with 30 seconds to go as the Aztecs took down Nebraska 2-1 on Thursday evening to open their 2022 season.
With 30 seconds left in the match and the scored tied at 1-1, Lauren Dicus picked up the ball just outside the 18-yard box. The senior then whipped in a cross to the far post where Castro was waiting. The San Ysidro, California native rose above everyone and put a towering header into the back of the net to give the Aztecs the win, 2-1.
Both teams would feel each other out in the opening 15 minutes, with neither team able to find a way past the opposing teams defenses. Castro came closest in the opening moments when she forced a save two minutes in off her left foot. It would then take until the 28th minute for either team to break the deadlock. It would be Castro on the scene again. This time she picked up a ball from just outside the 18-yard box, rounded the keeper and fired the shot over the retreating defender and into the upper right-hand corner of the net, giving the Aztecs the 1-0 advantage.
Neither side would find the back of the net the rest of the half and the Aztecs took a 1-0 lead into halftime.
Coming out of the halftime break, neither team produced much in the final third until the Aztecs forced a trio of saves in the 57th minute. Rachelle Elve darted into the box beat her defender, cut back on her left foot, and passed to Emma Gaines-Ramos who forced a save from the Nebraska keeper. The ball then rebounded back into danger where Dicus fired the ball back on goal and forced another save. Gaines-Ramos tried to put the ball in the back of the net for the third time in succession, but Samantha Hauk stood tall in the Cornhuskers net to keep it a 1-0 Aztec advantage.
Nebraska would tie the game in the 73rd minute when Sarah Weber latched on to a cross and buried it into the bottom right corner of the net.
The Aztecs thought they had earned the game-winner 10 minutes later in the 83rd minute when after some nice buildup play in the midfield Gaines-Ramos had her shot cleared off the line, before Elve turned the rebound into the back of the net, only for the goal to be flagged offsides.
It was Castro again who then earned the Aztecs the 2-1 win in the 90th minute off of the Dicus cross.
Stat of the Game: With her two goals on the night, Castro notched her second career brace. The first came on October 10, 2021 against Nevada.
Up Next: San Diego State returns home for their home opener against Idaho on Sunday at noon. Admission is free.
Denise Castro’s Brace Lifts SDSU Above Nebraska
