SAN DIEGO – San Diego State men's soccer (5-6-2, 1-3-1 PAC-12) took down USD (3-4-6, 1-0-1 WCC), 4-2 on a rainy Saturday evening on the SDSU SportsDeck. The Aztecs scored four goals in the second half to earn the win.
It was USD who were on the front foot early. The Toreros opened the scoring in the fifth minute when Alex Churness put his team in front 1-0. Neither team were able to muster another goal in the first half as the Toreros took a 1-0 lead into the halftime break.
The Aztecs would come out firing in the second half and their pressure on the Torero net would soon pay off. In the 52nd minute CJ Fodrey got the Aztecs level after being played through on goal by Henry Smith-Hastie. Fodrey then showed off his pace and burst past the Toreros back line and slotted his shot into the bottom right corner to tie the match at 1-1. USD would immediately answer in the 54th minute when a shot that took a heavy deflection trickled into the net to give the Toreros the 2-1 lead.
San Diego State would then score three unanswered, courtesy of three different Aztecs. After USD's Ethan Warne was shown a red card for denying a goal scoring opportunity, Iñigo Villaldea stepped up to take the free kick from just outside the Torero 18-yard box. He calmly ran up to the ball and then fired a shot around the wall and past the outstretched arms of the USD keeper to bring the Aztecs level in the 56th minute, 2-2.
With the Toreros down to 10 men, Tristan Viviani completed the comeback in the 68th minute. Fodrey with a goal to his name earlier in the match turned provider on Viviani's goal as he picked up the ball in space on the left wing. He then put in a perfect cross to Viviani who was crashing the box, got his head to the ball and finished it into the net to give the Aztecs a 3-2 lead. Freshman Austin Brummett would add a fourth for the Aztecs in the 81st minute. Blake Bowen picked up the ball in space on the right side of the Torero defense, played a ball across the face of goal and Brummett pounced on it to give the Aztecs a 4-2 lead.
SDSU would run out 4-2 winners after firing nine shots off in the second half as part of their four-goal barrage. Four different Aztecs scored in the match, while a total of six Aztecs tallied either a goal or an assist on Saturday night.
The Stat: The Aztecs scored their four goals in just a 28:40 span of the second half.
Up Next: San Diego State returns to PAC-12 play on Thursday when they host Stanford on the SportsDeck at 7 p.m. PT.
-SDSU-
Aztecs Take Down Toreros 4-2
