SAN DIEGO – San Diego State women's soccer earned a convincing 4-0 win over USD on Thursday evening at Snapdragon Stadium. In front of a crowd of over 2,500 Denise Castro scored a brace in the win for the Aztecs.
The Aztecs (5-2-1) opened the scoring early in the first half and pinned the Toreros (1-6-1) back in their own half for much of the first half. Emma Gaines-Ramos got the Aztecs on the board in the ninth minute with her first goal of the season. After picking up a ball from Kali Trevithick she cut inside at the edge of the box, worked her way around a defender and then fired the ball into the bottom right corner of the net to give SDSU a 1-0 lead.
Denise Castro followed that up with the Aztecs' second just six minutes later. After Kali Trevithick had her shot saved by the USD keeper, Castro pounced on the loose ball and slotted it into the back of the net to put the Aztecs up a pair, 2-0.
San Diego State continued to pile on the pressure and tallied 11 shots in the opening half hour, and it resulted in another goal. This time Gaines-Ramos turned provider as she drove at the USD defense. After picking up the ball on the left flank she sent in a low cross that skipped just in front of the USD keeper and found Olivia Sekimoto who put the ball home with a smart finish into the bottom right corner to give SDSU a 3-0 advantage heading into halftime.
The second half was much of the same as the Aztecs continued to press the Toreros and search for a fourth goal. Grace Goins had her shot saved in the 55th minute, before Castro earned her second of the night in the 72nd minute. Castro picked off a USD pass along the backline and then sent the ball past the onrushing USD keeper, to put the Aztecs up 4-0.
SDSU would see out the clean sheet with some heroic defending in the final minutes, including a great stop by Cameron Illingworth in goal and a goal line clearance.
Offensively the Aztecs had 18 shots with nine of them coming on target in the match, and limited the Toreros to 10 shots with only five coming on frame. Castro led the way with 4 shots and two on goal, while Alexa Madueno had four saves between the posts for SDSU.
Up Next: The Aztecs open Mountain West play next Thursday, September 21, at Fresno State. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. PT.
Game Notes:
- The Aztecs move to 12-8-2 all-time against USD.
- SDSU women's soccer moves to 2-0 all-time at Snapdragon Stadium (also won 2-0 over San Jose State last season).
- SDSU kept their third clean sheet of 2023 in the win.
- The 4-0 win was the largest margin of victory of the season.
- With four saves on the night Alexa Madueno is now second in career saves with 246.
- Denise Castro moved into a tie for ninth all-time in career goals with her 18th and 19th goals on Thursday.
- Emma Gaines-Ramos scored her first goal of 2023 in the win.
- Attendance was 2,533, the second largest attendance figure in SDSU women's soccer history.