SAN DIEGO – San Diego State women's soccer earned a hard-fought 1-0 win over Air Force on Thursday evening at the SDSU Sports Deck. Alyza Eckhardt scored the lone goal in the contest. With the win head coach Mike Friesen earned his 100th career Mountain West Conference victory.
The Aztecs (7-2-2, 2-0-1 MW) kept a clean sheet in the win over Air Force (4-5-1, 1-1-1 MW), their fourth of the season. However, to start the match it was Air Force who were on the front foot in the opening 20 minutes. The Falcons tallied seven shots in the opening 20 minutes, but Alexa Madueno was sharp between the posts for San Diego State and came up with four huge saves in the opening minutes.
At the 20-minute mark the Aztecs began to swing momentum in their favor. After some nice build up play the ball was lifted into the Air Force box, and was initially cleared before the ball fell to Carlin Blake just outside the box. She then flicked the ball to the center of the field just outside the 18-yard box to Alyza Eckhardt who fired it first-time into the top left corner of the goal for her first career goal, and the Aztecs took a 1-0 lead. Neither team would threaten for the remainder of the half and SDSU took a 1-0 advantage into the halftime break.
The second half featured a slower tempo as the Aztecs controlled the match. Madueno was called into action in the 63rd minute but held on to the shot well and the Aztecs still lead 1-0. SDSU almost went 2-0 up in the 71st minute, but Alexys Ocampo's shot was well saved by Sydney Davis in goal for the Falcons. Air Force would throw numbers forward in the final few minutes, but the San Diego State backline remained strong and Madueno made one final save in the 84th minute to preserve the 1-0 win.
On the night Madueno made eight stops in net for the Aztecs, while Eckhardt lead the way with three shots, two on target, and the goal.
Game Notes:
- Head Coach Mike Friesen earned his 100th career Mountain West Conference victory, and in doing so became the first Mountain West women's soccer coach to reach that mark.
- San Diego State moves to 24-1-1 all-time against Air Force.
- The Aztecs did not lose in the month of September (5-0-1). The last time the Aztecs went a whole month without a loss was October of 2015 when SDSU went a perfect 9-0-0 for the month.
- Alyza Eckhardt scored her first career goal in the win.
- Keeper Alexa Madueno earned her third shutout of the season, and the 19th of her career.
- Carlin Blake dished out her second career assist in the win.
-SDSU-