SAN DIEGO – San Diego State women's soccer earned their sixth win in seven matches when they beat Colorado College 3-1 on Sunday afternoon at the SDSU Sports Deck. SDSU tallied 32 shots and forced 15 saves in the win.
The Aztecs (8-2-2, 3-0-1 MW) opened the match on the front foot and pinned the Tigers (1-9-1, 1-3-0 MW) deep in their own half. In the opening few minutes SDSU earned a corner, and on the ensuing ball into the box, Kiera Utush flicked the ball on net, but the Colorado College keeper made a diving stop to keep the Aztecs off the board. SDSU would continue to throw numbers forward in search of an opening goal and had five shots before finding the back of the net.
In the 17th minute Denise Castro was brought down in the penalty box, and the referee whistled for a foul, giving San Diego State their first penalty opportunity of the season. Utush then calmly strode up and slotted the penalty home, giving the Aztecs a 1-0 lead. SDSU would continue to search for a second goal in the half, and Alexys Ocampo forced another huge save in the 25th minute. After that Colorado College had their first shot of the match in the 37th minute, but the shot was saved by Alexa Madueno and the Aztecs took a 1-0 lead into the halftime break.
Both teams came out firing to begin the second half, and San Diego State forced four saves in the opening five minutes of the half. Then, against the run of play, Colorado College found an equalizing goal. Grace Goins was judged to have handled the ball in the penalty area, resulting in a penalty for the Tigers, which Lily Byrne scored, and the match was tied at 1-1 in the 58th minute.
After the penalty for Colorado College, it was all San Diego State. In the final half hour the Aztecs had 10 shots, with five being saved by the Colorado College keeper. In the 70th minute Alexys Ocampo dribbled down the left wing, played the ball through to Denise Castro, who then slotted the ball across the box and found Emma Gaines-Ramos who fired the ball into the bottom right corner of the net to give SDSU a 2-1 lead. Just three minutes later the Aztecs added another goal. This time it was Ocampo who got on the score sheet of an assist from Gaines-Ramos. Gaines-Ramos picked up the ball on the right wing, dribbled around one defender and then lofted the ball over to Ocampo who headed in the goal to give the Aztecs a 3-1 lead in the 73rd minute.
The Aztecs would look to add to their tally and forced three additional saves in the final few minutes, but the Colorado College keeper stopped the rest of the attempts on target and finished the match with 15 saves as SDSU earned the 3-1 win on Sunday.
Up Next: The Aztecs host Boise State, who are tied atop the Mountain West table with SDSU, on Thursday evening at 7 p.m. PT on the SDSU Sports Deck.
Game Notes:
- The Aztecs won their sixth match in seven tries, and have not lost since August 31st.
- Alexys Ocampo scored her first goal of the season, and her second career goal in the win.
- The 32 shots were their most in a single game since SDSU had 38 shots in a 2-1 win over Nevada on Oct. 9, 2016.